CLAREMONT — The city’s fire and police departments are investigating a suspicious brush fire that started late Wednesday evening near the city’s airport.
City firefighters arrived at the scene off Industrial Drive near American Brush Co. around 11 p.m., according to a department news release.
The fire consumed 2 to 3 acres of vacant land and crews left the scene around 2:20 a.m. early Thursday morning, Claremont Fire Dept. Lt. William Hardy said.
“Just some of the circumstances around it” caused officials to deem it “suspicious in nature,” Hardy said Thursday. “The location, the time … there shouldn’t be anything out there that should have a fire.”
He noted that though the fire occurred near the American Brush Co., “it has nothing to do with them at all.”
The initial report came in from a caller near Byrd Avenue, which sits across a wooded area from Industrial Drive. The land is owned by multiple property owners, including the City of Claremont, Police Chief Brent Wilmot said Thursday afternoon.
“We are working to determine the origin and cause of the fire … and determine obviously if that fire was intentionally lit, who was responsible to light it,” Wilmot said. “We have identified a person of interest and the investigation continues.”
Depending on the outcome of the investigation, investigators could seek a felony charge of arson, or a misdemeanor of kindling a fire without a permit, Wilmot added.
The two city departments are also working with the New Hampshire Division of Forests and Lands on the investigation.
Those with knowledge of the incident are asked to call Hardy at 603-542-5156. They can also contact Claremont police officer Michael Berry at 603-542-9538.
The state deemed Wednesday a “high” fire danger day, which is three on a five-point scale, according to the NH Fire Weather Forecast, a daily report which is compiled by the State of New Hampshire Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. People can sign up to receive the reports at nhdfl.dncr.nh.gov/forest-protection/daily-fire-danger.
“It was actually pretty breezy last night,” Hardy said of Wednesday night’s conditions. The land where the fire took place included a mix of leaves and fallen tree limbs, among other brush. “…With that little bit of a breeze it doesn’t take much to get going.”
About 30 firefighters from Claremont, Weathersfield, Windsor, Charlestown, Cornish, Unity, and Lempster, N.H., in addition to Golden Cross Ambulance, responded to the scene, Hardy said. The Plainfield and Springfield, Vt., fire departments provided station coverage, the release said.
