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Firebug in Kingston?

KINGSTON — Police in Luzerne County are concerned there might be a firebug in the area. Two suspicious fires sparked within a week of each other on the sa...

KINGSTON -- Police in Luzerne County are concerned there might be a firebug in the area. Two suspicious fires sparked within a week of each other on the same block in Kingston.

The scenes of suspicious fires are visible from every angle of Michael and Heather Walsh's front porch. They live on Sharpe Street in Kingston, between two vacant buildings where fires sparked within the past two weeks.

"Makes me scared. We have four children, three of them being kind of small," said Michael Walsh, of Kingston.

The first fire happened November 9th, in this vacant house in the middle of the night. The other happened earlier this week in this empty barn just down the street, again in the middle of the night.

No one was hurt in either fire, but both are near the Kingston fire department, and both are considered suspicious.

Just to give you an idea of how close all of this is to each other, the one fire happened in this house right here, the other in that barn, and the fire department is just a few doors down.

Kingston Police Chief Michael Krzywicki believes the fires could have been started by homeless people looking for shelter in the cold or they could be the work of a firebug.

"It's rather unusual that we would have two fires in the same area that are suspicious in nature, so we want to make the public aware they should be vigilant," said Kingston Police Chief Michael Krzywicki.

"This house has been on fire a couple of times. They've had the copper piping stolen out of it. It's been flooded," said Heather Walsh, of Kingston.

Heather Walsh says problems at vacant homes nearby are nothing new. Another vacant house next door to hers has had its share of problems. She says she's not surprised police are investigating.

"You don't just pick two places a hundred feet, couple hundred feet from a fire department and just decide to set them on fire. I'm thinking it's somebody wanting to make a statement," said Walsh.

Police are looking for suspects. Anyone with information about the suspicious fires is asked to call the Kingston Police Department.

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