HARTFORD — A Hartford man set fire to the house he lived in yesterday afternoon, destroying the building and displacing three families according to police. He’s now under arrest.
Chief Ortiz of Hartford Fire said that the fire started on the front porch of the first floor and it quickly spread to the first floor. There were also electrical wires down outside the home which made it harder for firefighters to battle the fire.
“Due to the fact that we couldn’t really make entry the way we wanted to because of the energized wires, it did take us a significant amount of time before we were really able to put some serious water on the fire,’ said Chief Ortiz.
But Hartford police officers arriving on the scene were tipped off by witnesses that the fire was intentionally set and quickly identified an arson suspect. Sunday morning the police department confirmed that they have arrested 36 year old Angel Ares, who listed that three-family house as his home. In addition to the arson charge, he’s charged with Criminal Mischief, and multiple counts of Reckless Endangerment and Risk of Injury.
Firefighters had their hands full Saturday evening, as another fire was burning on Zion Street at the same time. No one was hurt in the Zion Street fire but all of the Hartford Fire Department units were in use, requiring the department to request mutual aid.
