Truck fire in Easthampton considered suspicious

By Owen Boss

Staff Writer

EASTHAMPTON - Police are investigating a truck fire that firefighters believe was intentionally set behind a Cottage Street building Saturday night.

According to Fire Chief David Mottor, about 8:10 p.m. Saturday firefighters responded to the rear of the former Dye Works building on Cottage Street after receiving calls from residents who saw a large plume of black smoke rising above the building.

Mottor said they found a 1975 Ford box truck fully engulfed in flames.

"The entire cab area of the truck was engulfed to the point where the inside was so hot that it was melting the aluminum on the box that was attached to it," Mottor said.

It took about 40 minutes for firefighters to extinguish the blaze, said Mottor. Evidence they found afterward pointed to arson, he added.

"The battery inside the truck was completely dead and the fire originated in the cab and not in the engine compartment," Mottor said. "The only thing that could have started it would have been an electric short and because there was no electricity in the vehicle, it had to have been set."

The truck, which Mottor said was a total loss and belongs to the owner of an adjacent mill building at 1 Cottage St., was left parked behind the building last winter so it would not interfere with street plowing.

The Easthampton Fire Investigative Unit continues to try to determine the cause of the fire. Anyone with information is urged to contact officer William Mielke at 527-4200.

Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com.