Local News in Brief : Gym Fire Called Arson
County fire officials said Tuesday they now believe that a fire that gutted the John H. Glenn High School gymnasium in Norwalk was deliberately set.
“We have determined it to be arson,” said Battalion Chief Gordon S. Pearson, who had initially discounted that possibility.
A preliminary investigation of the fire scene indicated that the blaze was set in at least two places, he said. There are no suspects yet, officials said.
Fire investigator Jack Roth said that an arsonist may have used cardboard boxes filled with athletic equipment to start the fire. One of the boxes, found along the southwest wall of the building, showed traces of a flammable liquid.
“There were starts in different locations with nothing burned between them,” Roth said. “That indicates they were set.”
The fire was reported Monday at 3:33 p.m. and took firefighters more than an hour to put it out. It destroyed the gym roof and caused an estimated $2 million in damage.
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