Excerpts from wifr.com:
Finding out what or who is sparking fires in vacant buildings in Rockford is the fire department’s top priority.
Rockford Fire Department Division Chief Matt Knott says it’s “clear we have a fire problem” after a fourth vacant building was destroyed in an early morning fire on Thursday. The first fire happened at the old Hanley Furniture building on June 25th, followed by a fire on 7th Street a week later on July 2. On July 4, a third Rockford downtown building caught fire in the 800 block of South Main Street.
Investigators are actively working on finding the cause of a fire in the 600 block of 7th Street, the site of Thursday’s fire. Three of the four walls of the building collapsed.
The fire department says they are treating all the fires as independent events and have confirmed that there was no electricity in either the Hanley Building or the fire on South Main Street. Division Chief Knott says arson remains a possibility with some of the fires, but they are not ruling out other causes.
thanks Dan
