A building fire that spread to nearby brush in Kingston, Massachusetts, last weekend is now being investigated as a possible arson.
The fire was first reported just after 1:30 a.m. on Sunday in a building under construction on Wapping Road and ultimately led to a complete structural collapse of the two-story building and also spread to nearby brush, sparking several additional fires.
The building, which was under construction for commercial use, sustained what fire investigators described as "catastrophic" damage and began to collapse soon after firefighters arrived at the scene. The fire sent large embers into the surrounding area, which started brush fires around the building and across the street.
Firefighters battled the fires for about three hours, successfully containing them and keeping them from spreading to the surrounding wooded areas.
The origin and cause of the fire are now being investigated by Kingston police and fire and state police fire investigators assigned to the State Fire Marshal's Office.
Anyone with information on the cause of the fire is being asked to call the Arson Watch Reward Program's 24-hour hotline at 1-800-682-9229. The program offers rewards of up to $5,000 for information that detects or prevents arson.
