Trash Arson Damages Chapel Street Building

Firefighters extinguished an early-morning fire Sunday at a Chapel Street commercial building believed to be caused by two kids lighting garbage on fire.

The fire took place shortly before 6 a.m. at 746 Chapel St., a building that includes the world headquarters of SeeClickFix.

Assistant Fire Chief Matthew Marcarelli said firefighters extinguished it in about 20 minutes. No one was in the building at the time.

Marcarelli said the fire began on the sidewalk with some trash that caught on fire. It spread to the building’s entrance, then got inside when the heat broke the transom above the doorway. The flames damaged the interior front vestibule, and an activated sprinkler led to water damage on the first floor, Marcarelli said.

In the end, the fire may have caused $100,000 or more in damage, including damage from the smoke, according to police Sgt. Elisa Tuozzoli.

Tuozzoli said a witness to the beginning of the fire flagged down Officer Joseph Silvestrini and reported that two juveniles had started it in a trash receptacle. The witness described the perpetrators and their path of travel.

Silvestrini and fellow Officer Jason Santiago eventually found two suspects who fit the description; the witness then positively identified them, according to Tuozzoli. Police charged one of the suspects, who’s 17, with third-degree arson and first-degree reckless endangerment and criminal mischief. The other suspect, who’s 16, was charged with conspiracy to commit those crimes. They were also suspected of having set a trash can fire at York and Chapel, Tuozzoli said.

Tuozzoli said the 17-year-old admitted setting both fires.

SeeClickFix founder Ben Berkowitz showed up at the office Sunday. ​“It looks like we have smoke damage,” he said. ​“We’ll just have to clean our carpet and replace a window.”