Brocton fires being tied to homeless person
OBSERVER Photos by Braden Carmen Remnants of a fire at Fellowship Church is seen near the entrance in Brocton.
A fire was started near Tri-Church Parish on Monday in Brocton where a previous blaze took place in 2013.
OBSERVER Photos by Braden Carmen Remnants of a fire at Fellowship Church is seen near the entrance in Brocton.
A fire was started near Tri-Church Parish on Monday in Brocton where a previous blaze took place in 2013.
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BROCTON -- Officials believe recent village fires are not as much of a concern as originally suspected.
A pair of fires outside of the entrance to village churches might have been the work of an unhoused person looking to keep warm, rather than of an arsonist targeting places of worship in the village.
Fire Department Chief Bill Hussey visited the Village Board meeting on Wednesday evening to provide an update on the ongoing investigation into the fires, which were set early Monday morning at the Tri-Church Parish and at the Fellowship Church.
Hussey stated after a recent conversation with a Chautauqua County investigator, the prevailing theory is that a person heading west on Route 20/Main Street in Brocton set the first fire at the Tri-Church Parish early Monday morning to stay warm while passing through the village during a storm. The person, who Hussey and investigators speculated might be without a home, was seen on security footage from the Country Fair store across the street from the Tri-Church Parish.
Later that morning, at around 4:30 a.m., what appeared to be the same individual was observed on security footage near School Street from the Brocton Central School cameras.
The individual set a fire within feet of the entrance to the Fellowship Church, located on School Street and Route 20. The flames appeared to reach 3-4 feet in the air, and the suspect was seen fueling the fire by throwing articles of clothing on the flames. An eyewitness, who alerted the authorities on Monday morning, stated the culprit remained at the scene for a prolonged period of time before departing.
Each of the fires were set on the sidewalk underneath the awning of an entrance to the building. There appeared to be no attempt to set a fire along the side of each building or to the structures themselves. The fires each went out before the Brocton Fire Department was notified of any incident.
"They think it's a homeless person trying to get warm, because if they wanted to burn the church, they would've put the fire next to the vinyl siding. It was 5 feet away," said Hussey.
The fires set Monday morning sparked more than just flames in front of a pair of local buildings.
Because of the tensions surrounding ongoing wars overseas, there was speculation that the fires could have been intentionally set near places of worship. Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand called for additional funding to protect synagogues, Jewish community centers, mosques, and other religious or non-profit institutions that are at high risk of terrorist attacks. Gillibrand requested that $500 million in funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP) program be included in the Fiscal Year 2024 Homeland Security Appropriations bill.
The fires also held added significance to the village of Brocton because of the major church fire nearly 10 years to the date, at the former Tri-Church Parish. The church was completely rebuilt after an act of arson, in which Daniel Frey was convicted of third-degree arson and sentenced to four to eight years in prison. However, the belief as of Wednesday evening is that the fires were just a coincidence without any political motive or intent to cause another catastrophic fire in the village.
"That may take the worry off people for maybe an arsonist in town," Hussey said. "I think it's a relief for our village."