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Crime & Safety

Police Investigating 3 'Suspicious' Fires Started on the Same Block

All of the fires early this morning -- and another on Christmas Day -- started in vehicles parked in or near garages in the 16700 block of Hazelwood Drive.

Three fires that took place early this morning on the same block – just two weeks after a Christmas Day fire, also on the same block – have been deemed “suspicious” by the .

All four of the fires started in vehicles parked in or near town home garages in the 16700 block of Hazelwood Drive, Plainfield Sgt. Mike Fisher said today. While two were limited to the vehicles, one blaze got into the house and caused in extensive damage, he said.

“We’re still investigating, but the three fires are very suspicious in nature,” Fisher said.

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The was notified of the first fire shortly after 2:30 a.m. A call to Deputy Chief Jon Stratton has not yet been returned.

Sandy Reinhart, owner of the badly damaged town home at 16777 Hazelwood Drive, said it was her son who alerted the family that the house was on fire.  

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Bradley Reinhart had been visiting a neighbor and was returning home when he saw that a vehicle inside the garage was on fire, Sandy Reinhart said. He had left the garage door open but couldn’t get back into the house that way, so he had to pound on the front door to wake the family, she said.

She woke her other son, grabbed the dog and fled, she said.

The Reinhart house has been boarded up and appears to be uninhabitable.

The other vehicle fires appear to have started the same way, Fisher said. He declined to provide any details other than to say that chemical tests were being done to determine what might have been used to ignite the blazes.  

Plainfield firefighters and police were on the scene till after 5 a.m. No injuries were reported.

The began shortly before 10 a.m. at 16787 Hazelwood Drive. The blaze's major damage was contained to the garage; two vehicles inside were destroyed.

At the time, Stratton said it was believed the fire started inside one of the vehicles. It wasn't clear, he said, if the fire had been smoldering overnight or had started closer to the time when the fire department was alerted.

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