Police investigating two house fires hours apart as arson

MONESSEN — Police in Monessen are investigating two fires in an 8-hour period as arson.

Philip Reed lives near an alley off Division Street. He woke up late Monday night to a fire across the street. The  heat from the flames was so intense he could feel it.

"I heard an explosion and I jumped up, looked and I (saw) those flames and the heat was so hot it was coming in my house across the street," Reed said.

Hours early, an abandoned home right around the corner on 10th Street had been consumed by flames and smoke.

Investigators said both fires were intentionally set.

"Our crews took up a defensive attack from the exterior until the fire was pinpointed to where it was,” said Chief Christopher Rhome, of the Monessen Fire Department. “We didn't want to risk any injury to our firefighters over an abandoned structure."

With 230 vacant structures in its 3-mile city limit, Monessen is no stranger to arson.

"While we were still fighting those two houses, another call came in a block and a half farther up Knox Avenue," Rhome said.

Rhome pointed out that the houses that have been targeted are within a several-block radius.

"It takes people away from their livelihoods, families and they're risking their lives to do so to protect the communities they serve," he said.

Monessen police made an arrest in the last string of arsons in 2015. A 17-year-old was convicted, and has since been released.

Cox Media Group