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Aram Boghosian for The Boston Globe
Investigators pored over the Quincy scene this morning.
By Brian Ballou and John R. Ellement Globe Staff
Investigators are probing blazes in Quincy and Hanson this morning where two unoccupied buildings burned overnight in what may be the latest in a string of arson fires that has hit at least six communities in the past five weeks.
State Fire Marshal Stephen D. Coan said in a telephone interview that the early morning fire in Hanson destroyed an unoccupied building on Main Street.
“The series of fires we are looking at clearly involve vacant or unoccupied structures,’’ Coan said in a telephone interview from the Hanson scene. “In so far as this one was vacant, it does, in fact, at least cause concern that it fits the profile.’’
He said, however, that the fire is still smoldering and investigators have not been able to get inside to search for the cause and origin of the blaze. “It was very well involved on the arrival of firefighters on scene,’’ Coan said.
Coan also said that one of the state troopers assigned to his office is in Quincy where an unoccupied home burned overnight.
He stressed that the inquiry into the Quincy fire is still in the early stages, and that he is not in a position to say what connection, if any, there is to the arson fires already under investigation.
At the Quincy fire scene this morning, a group of investigators combed through charred debris inside a two-story house at the corner of Quincy Avenue and E. Howard Street that had been vacant for at least a year.
“Right now, investigators are looking at how it started, and after they find that out, then will make a determination of whether it was accidental or intentional,” said Paul Griffith, Quincy deputy fire chief. The fire started at about 1:30 a.m., and was put out by 5 a.m.