Morgan Oak Street fire appears to be arson

A fire that broke out in a basement at a Morgan Oak Street building Monday evening appears to have been intentionally set, investigators said.

Firefighters got the call around 9 p.m. Monday and responded to another blaze on the city's south side, the third in two weeks in that neighborhood and the seventh deemed suspicious since 2005 within a seven-block radius.

Monday's structure fire occurred in the basement of 839 Morgan Oak St., and flames and a moderate amount of smoke licked at a window on the east side of the building when firefighters arrived.

Investigators from the Cape Girardeau fire and police departments worked to pinpoint where the fire started. They think a set of box springs and mattress was used in starting the fire, said Cape Girardeau fire marshal Mike Morgan.

The fire was contained to the basement of the building, causing severe smoke and heat damage.

The first and second floors sustained moderate smoke damage, making the total estimated damage to be about $15,000.

The building was vacant at the time of the fire.

Evidence indicates that the fire was incendiary, meaning intentionally set, said Detective Tracy Lemonds of the Cape Girardeau Police Department.

There are a few leads that police are investigating concerning the cluster of suspicious fires, but so far no person of interest has been named in the suspected arsons, Lemonds said.

"Some of them have been extremely similar in nature," Morgan said of the fires.

Cape Girardeau authorities will be meeting next week with the state fire marshal to discuss the string of suspicious fires, he said.

Morgan said it may be significant that most of the houses that have been burned were vacant at the time.

"That may embolden some folks into thinking they could get away with it," he said.

Investigators must look at anything tying the string of blazes together, he said.

Burn patterns can indicate use of accelerants, as can the presence of certain chemical in the debris from the fires, so those will be analyzed to try to determine a cause, Morgan said.

Evidence from most of the fires has been submitted to the state's lab for chemical analysis, Morgan said.

bdicosmo@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 245

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