Suspected Serial Arson Rampage Alarms Northampton Mass.

Federal, state and local fire and police officials are investigating more than a dozen suspicious fires that occurred early Sunday morning.

The fires all started between 2 and 3:35 a.m. In cars and houses in a residential area of Northampton. A father and his don died in one of those fires.

Firefighters from 14 departments around western Massachusetts were called in to help.

It appears these fires were planned out and coordinated.

And that an arsonist or arsonists are at large in the Pioneer Valley of western Massachusetts.

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More from The Boston Globe

Two people were killed early yesterday in one of at least 18 fires set during what the state’s top firefighter called the state’s worst day of arson in memory.

Firefighters responded to the first reported fire around 2 a.m. For the next hour and a half, eight serious blazes – four at homes and four in cars – and at least 10 small fires were set within a few square miles. The most serious gutted a house at 17 Fair St., where two people escaped the flames but two others died.

The victims were not named pending autopsies, but they were identified as Paul Yeskie and his son, Paul Jr., by neighbors and a fire official with direct knowledge of the investigation, speaking anonymously because he was not authorized to discuss specifics.

The fires, set in houses, cars, and garages, were the latest in a string of suspicious fires that have plagued the Ward 3 neighborhood of Northampton for years, neighbors and officials said yesterday.

As more and more emergency calls came in, all the fire equipment in Northampton was quickly put to use. A dozen other cities and towns helped extinguish the fires.

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Fires Ravage California Southern California

While this is obviously not a terror related event, in the interest of serving our readers and online community we will continue to monitor this situation and provide links to the latest news and information.

UPDATE: Chaotic, gusting winds fanned wildfires all over Southern California on Saturday. Live links are listed below.

UPDATE: A wildfire fanned by hurricane-force wind ripped through northwestern Los Angeles foothills on Saturday, forcing some 10,000 people to flee their homes and threatening the power supply of California’s largest city.

A separate fire burned a second day in the celebrity enclave of Montecito, where 111 homes have been destroyed.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said the fire in the foothills near Sylmar had already destroyed dozens of structures — more than any other in the past decade — and that the flames could take down power lines feeding the city.

“The fire is threatening the power of the city of Los Angeles,” Villaraigosa told a news conference. “We may have to move to rolling blackouts.”

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A massive brush fire in Sylmar has burned at least five homes and 2600 acres, forcing evacuations as strong winds are quickly spreading the flames. The flames jumped the 210 Freeway causing L.A. Fire Department to close the roadway.

Winds were gusting up to about 50 mph at 2 a.m. as several homes along Dronefield Avenue burned. The fire jumped the 210 freeway near Cobalt Street, and the freeway was closed shortly after midnight.

As many as a dozen homes burned since the fire started about 10:30 p.m. Friday. An estimated 1,500 acres were blackened in the foothills, mostly north of the freeway.

Officials at Olive View Medical Center, which was without electricity, were working to evacuate some 200 patients to Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills. The most critical patients and babies were moved first.

Some storage buildings on the hospital campus burned.

Just one injury was reported — a 40-year-old man who suffered serious burns, according to broadcast reports.

Evacuations were ordered north of the freeway. Police were helping firefighters get disabled people out of their homes. As many as 5,000 people were sent to shelters.

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