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Coatesville 2-Alarm Fire Deemed Arson

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Jan 6, 2009 11:30 pm US/Eastern

Coatesville 2-Alarm Fire Deemed Arson

COATESVILLE, Pa. (CBS 3) ― Investigators believe a devastating fire in a Chester County home was intentionally set.

Firefighters were called to a duplex in the 400 block of Oak Street in Coatesville for a two-alarm fire just after midnight Tuesday.

Two residents were taken to Brandywine Hospital for smoke inhalation, but no other injuries were reported. Four people total were left homeless by the blaze.

Fire officials confirm the fire was intentionally set and believe it started in a trash can on the side of the home.

The Coatesville area has recently been plagued with a rash of suspected arson fires.

On the first day of the New Year, officials said a shed was destroyed and a home was damaged by a suspicious fire in the 100 block of Charles Street in Valley at about 9:35 p.m. Just over an hour later in the 200 block of Madison Street in Coatesville, a fire erupted in a plastic trash can in back of a nearby residence.

The incidents continued into early Friday morning after flames erupted on the back porch of a home in the 100 block of North Fifth Avenue at about 1:40 a.m. A fourth and final suspicious fire broke out at about 4 a.m. on the porch of a home in the 200 block of West Diamond Street.

No injuries were reported in any of the incidents.

In 2008, over a dozen suspicious fires were reported in the Coatesville area.

Irene Kempest, an 83-year-old Nazi work camp survivor, was killed last month after a fire was sparked in a home on Strode Avenue. Police later arrested 23-year-old George Donkewicz in connection with the deadly blaze.

The incidents remain under investigation. If you have any information, call the State Police Fire Marshal at 484-340-3643.

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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