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Arson eyed at Flea Market blaze Officials: Fire at vacant building ‘suspicious’
BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter

    Firefighters were settling in for the long haul at a stubborn fi re on State Street Monday night.
    The vacant Flea Market building at 952-954 State St. caught fi re sometime before 6:14 p.m. Despite the efforts of seven fi re departments and 45 city fi refi ghters, city officials said it was likely the building would smolder all night long.
    Just before 9 p.m., after three hours of work, they got the bulk of the fire out and began searching for fl are-ups.
    But long before the fl ames were extinguished, the department’s new arson investigators were already taking pictures and interviewing witnesses.
    Fire Chief Robert Farstad said his working theory was arson.
    “We has a fire here 10 days ago. That was suspicious. This is very suspicious,” he said. “There’s no reason there should be a fi re. All power is off to the building.”
    The power was off before the last fire, too. In both cases, the building’s doors and windows had been boarded shut by the city.
    Corporation Counsel L. John Van Norden insisted on a quick re-boarding, at city expense, after the last fire. On Monday, he said that determined individuals could get through anything.
    “Boarding is only so effective,” he said.
    The fire shut down State Street for hours. Neighborhood Watch members were called in to help with crowd control as dozens of residents filled the sidewalk, watching and taking photos. A shift in the wind around 8 p.m. sent the smoke directly at them, causing many to cover their mouths and noses with their shirts — but they continued to watch.
    Smoke could be seen from all corners of the city, and it became so thick and dark that those watching could not see even a block down the street. Residents were fascinated. Some even documented the loss of visibility with video cameras.
    But for firefighters it was not entertaining. Some began to cover their faces with cloth as they walked from truck to truck. They pulled out a dry-erase board to map out their plan of attack, a technique they don’t always have the manpower to use. This time, they had plenty of fi refighters — and plenty of time. ................>>>>..................>>>>.......................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r00901&AppName=1

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    The city can’t even find the owner. Van Norden began looking after the last fire.
    “The last I heard, [the owner is] maybe in Canada,” he said, adding that he doesn’t know the name. “It’s changed hands a couple of times in the last couple of years. The taxes haven’t been paid in a long, long time.”

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Officials: Former flea market was deliberately set ablaze
BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter

    City fi re investigators have determined a destructive blaze on Monday at the old Whitehouse Flea Market building on State Street was deliberately set.
    Chief Robert Farstad wouldn’t divulge many details about the ongoing investigation on Thursday, other than to acknowledge the cause was “incendiary.” He said the Fire Department’s arson unit fi nished gathering physical evidence from within the structure and determined a point of origin for the powerful fire, which took nearly four dozen firefighters roughly three hours to extinguish.
    “The fire was in the rear portion of the interior,” he said Thursday. “We have an area of origin, and that’s about all I’m going to say.”
    The flea market was initially scorched by a blaze touched off on May 3. Fire investigators ruled that fire was suspicious and ordered the building boarded up.
    But just 10 days later, fi re broke out there again. Only this time, the blaze spread throughout the structure and caused smoke damage to adjacent buildings. .............>>>>...............>>>>.................. http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r01200&AppName=1

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Fire-damaged flea market site to cost city $60K to demolish
BY REBECCA STRUM For The Daily Gazette

    Preparations are under way to knock down the old Whitehouse Flea Market building, which police determined was deliberately set on fire twice, on May 3 and 14.
    The fi rst fire in the fl ea market, located at 952 State St., took fi refighters three hours to extinguish. A week and a half later, another fire spread throughout the building, causing further damage and smoke damage to nearby homes. A small, third fire was set to grass on the property on Saturday morning, leading to the arrests of two Schenectady men, according to court documents.
    The city will be paying for the demolition and take legal action against the owner of the property, said L. John Van Norden, the city’s corporation counsel.
    The demolition will cost $60,000, he said, less than the original estimate of more than $100,000.
    “We’re very happy,” Van Norden said regarding the cost.
    The flea market owner, Dominion Transport, is a limited liability corporation. Authorities are looking into whether the structure had code violations prior to the fi res and whether to file charges, Van Norden said. .............>>>>..........>>>>...............................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r01103&AppName=1