BIDDEFORD — Two fires intentionally set in apartment buildings over four days have some Biddeford residents on edge, even though officials say there is no link between the arson cases a half-mile apart, and after an arrest was made in the second case.

“Investigators say there is no connection between last night’s fire and the one last week in which a young man died and another was seriously injured,” Steve McCausland, spokesman for the State Fire Marshal’s Office, said in a written statement Monday. He was referring to the fatal fire set early Thursday at 35 Main St. and the one set Sunday night at 5 Simard Ave.

Kelly Poirier was brushing her teeth at her bathroom sink Sunday night when she heard a loud noise – possibly breaking glass – that drew her attention to the street where Simard Avenue and Cleaves Street connect three stories below. She spotted a skinny man running away.

Moments later, a police cruiser rounded the corner. The next thing she saw was smoke pouring from the two-story shingled building at 5 Simard Ave.

“It smelled awful,” said Poirier, who immediately thought of the deadly fire at 35 Main St. about a half-mile from her home. She worried that there was a connection.

“All right, there’s something fishy going on here and I don’t like it,” she said.

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Investigators, however, say the mechanism by which each fire was started is completely different. The state would not be more specific since the investigation into the fatal fire at 35 Main St. is ongoing.

No one was injured in the fire Sunday night on Simard Avenue. McCausland said it was started by a Biddeford man whose former girlfriend once lived in the building’s second-floor apartment.

Biddeford police arrested 40-year-old Jason McGarey in his home at 235 Pool St. in Biddeford around 4 p.m. Monday. McGarey was charged with arson and burglary in connection with several fires inside the Simard Avenue apartment. There have been no arrests in the arson at 35 Main St., which killed 23-year-old Michael Moore.

Brandy Hevey said her neighborhood has been on edge recently after someone slashed tires on cars. The fires haven’t helped ease her concerns.

“We heard glass breaking and ran to our kitchen window,” said Hevey, referring to the Simard Avenue fire. “It was thick black smoke coming out of all the windows of the house.”

The Simard Avenue apartment building is located in a densely populated neighborhood with a lot of apartment houses. Biddeford Fire Capt. Norman Melancon credited fire crews with being able to quickly knock down the fire and prevent it from spreading to nearby buildings.

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“If the fires were connected, there would be a big concern,” he said. “We are one of the busiest fire houses in the state.”

A string of fires wreaked havoc in Lewiston last year, when arsonists set three fires that destroyed nine buildings and displaced 200 downtown residents. Two boys and two adults were arrested and are in various stages of being tried.

McCausland said McGarey was taken to the York County Jail in Alfred after being questioned by Biddeford police.

Police allege that McGarey broke into the second-floor apartment at 5 Simard Ave. on Sunday night and set “a number of fires inside.” His former girlfriend, who is also the mother of his child, lived in the apartment until recently.

The owners of the Simard Avenue building, who live on the first floor, notified Biddeford police Sunday night that there was an intruder on the second floor. By the time police arrived, the fire had been ignited. It was reported at 8:20 p.m.

Maine Drug Enforcement Agency Commander Scott Pelletier said drug agents executed a search warrant in an apartment at 5 Simard Ave. on Sept. 12 and found evidence of drug trafficking. The evidence has been turned over to the state Attorney General’s Office for prosecution.

No one was arrested. Pelletier said after the raid that no one lived in the apartment.

Staff Writer David Hench contributed to this report.

 


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