FD: Waterbury fire possibly intentional

WATERBURY, Conn. (WTNH) -- Investigators believe a fire that tore through an apartment complex in Waterbury may have been intentionally set.
         
The blaze on Bishop Street sent flames into the sky late Sunday night.

"Pulled up last night about 11:30, saw a little bit of flames towards the back of the third floor," said Shawn Buell. "Immediately called 911."

Firefighters tried to get inside, but the flames were too intense.

"So they were trying to like stop it from getting to this side because of the wires and everything, but it just kept going even worse," said Karinga Santos. 

Fortunately no one's lived here for years, so the only person affected was Santos. All the water froze her car solid.

"It just looks a mess," Santos said. "It's not damaged, thank God it's not."

"Are you going to be able to drive it today," asked News 8's Kent Pierce.

"Yeah, hopefully after it defrosts," Santos said. 

If the apartment building fire was a big mess, then about a half a mile on Willow Street there were a lot of little messes. While the building fire was raging, someone set fire to several trash cans there.

News 8 saw five different trash cans, dumpsters and their contents all charred and burned. The Fire Marshal says all this may have be done by the same person who set fire to the apartment building, but without eyewitnesses in the middle of the night, they'll probably never know. As for the building, it will probably have to be demolished, and it will not be missed.

"Ten years ago I lived on the second floor, left hand side, and it was pretty decent back then," Buell said.

"Not so much in the past few years," asked Pierce.

"Not anymore."

The Fire Marshal says it's too dangerous for him to get inside to investigate, so they'll probably never know an exact cause.