4 weekend fires in New Kensington, Arnold — 3 on same street — being treated as suspicious

Investigators are trying to determine whether four fires that erupted over the weekend — including one that sent a firefighter to the hospital with serious injuries — were deliberately set and connected to one another.

Three of the four fires were on Leishman Avenue and one was on Fourth Avenue. All were less than six-tenths of a mile from one another. Three of the buildings were abandoned. A fourth was occupied, but the resident was not home.

Two firefighters suffered injuries fighting one of the blazes, according to authorities.

State police fire marshals and investigators in New Kensington and Arnold are on the case.

After a weekend with sections of Leishman Avenue shut down while firefighters worked to put out the fires, residents were panicked Monday when police converged at Leishman Avenue near North Street for a report of shots being fired.

All schools in the New Kensington-Arnold School District were on lockdown as police from multiple agencies canvassed the area for a suspected shooter.

A person with a gunshot wound showed up to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, according to authorities.

The shooting was not related to the fires, Melanie Jones, spokeswoman for the Westmoreland County District Attorney’s Office, said Monday.

• The string of fires began around 10:30 a.m. Saturday in a vacant home at 1520 Fourth Ave. in Arnold.

It was extinguished without incident, fire Chief Ed Saliba said.

“The state police fire marshal was called to investigate, and they are working with the New Kensington police to try to find a cause,” Saliba said Monday. “But anytime a fire breaks out in a building where nobody lives and there’s no utilities connected, it raises suspicions.”

• The second fire was reported at 10:56 a.m. Saturday at an abandoned two-story building at 1240 Fourth Ave. in New Kensington.

Arnold Fire Department spokesman Chris O’Leath said the fire is being treated as suspicious because there were no active utilities in the building, which has been abandoned for at least a decade.

• At 1:16 p.m. Sunday, firefighters responded to a call at a vacant home on 1743 Leishman Ave. in Arnold, where a small fire on the first floor was quickly extinguished, O’Leath said.

That fire also is being treated as suspicious because the house has been abandoned for at least a decade and did not have any working utilities, he said.

• At 9:39 p.m. Sunday, crews from multiple fire departments responded to 1557 Leishman Ave. in Arnold for a fire.

When firefighters arrived, they found smoke pouring out of the back.

“Someone was living in the house, but they weren’t home when the fire broke out,” O’Leath said.

A portion of the rear deck collapsed while two firefighters were working on it, sending them about four feet to the ground, O’Leath said.

One of the firefighters suffered a minor leg injury and was treated at the scene by medics, he said.

The other firefighter was taken to Allegheny Valley Hospital in Harrison and was treated for a serious leg injury and released, O’Leath said.

O’Leath said the fire also appears to be suspicious and is being investigated by the state police fire marshal and Arnold police.

The majority of the fire was put out quickly, but firefighters had to spend more than an hour cutting into walls to keep flames from spreading through the house.

He said the house sustained heavy damage from smoke and water and cannot be occupied.

While O’Leath won’t speculate on whether the fires are the result of arson, he noted if police arrest someone for deliberately setting them, they could face more serious charges because of the injuries suffered by the firefighters.