JAMESTOWN- Residents on Prospect St. expressed anger and bewilderment early Monday morning as a vacant house fire broke out.
The fire comes as the city is still reeling from a series of arsons in March culminating with police charging Falconer resident Jonathan Young with 12 counts of arson.
Fire officials have yet to rule a cause, and utilities were not working at the time.
“About 5 o’clock, I heard banging on my door and that’s not normal,” neighbor Dennis Murphy said. “I walked out into my kitchen and all I saw was orange.”
Jamestown Director of Development Vince DeJoy, who has become a prominent figure at vacant house fires in the past several months, knows something has to change.
“We don’t want to put plywood on every single house because that takes away from it,” DeJoy said. “We’re looking at new products now that are clear and strong, and we’re probably going to have more aggressive boarding up campaign.
