LEWISTON — Four fires set two weeks before the anniversary of last year’s weeklong arson spree has rattled nerves downtown.

Thursday’s fires were intentionally set within 3½ hours before dawn. An attempted fifth fire was discovered later in the day.

Police and fire officials have declined to say whether the fires are connected or whether more than one person could be responsible.

“We have determined the cause of these fires,” Sgt. Ken Grimes of the State Fire Marshal’s office said, “and have begun the long task of finding out who started these fires.”

Five marshals were at the scene Thursday, and Lewiston police Chief Michael Bussiere said he had 15 investigators working on the case. “This is a priority one investigation for us,” Bussiere said, and “we’re taking measures to ensure people feel safe.”

At the height of the fire calls, Chief Paul LeClair of the Lewiston Fire Department estimated 50 firefighters from Lewiston, Auburn, Lisbon and Sabattus had been called in.

The first fire occurred at 135 Oxford St. just after 1 a.m. and caused relatively little damage. That was followed at 2:58 a.m. by a fire that destroyed a single-family home at 44 Nichols St., at the corner of Holland Street.

The home had been abandoned and the city had boarded its windows and scheduled the structure for demolition April 15.

At about 4:30 a.m., firefighters were called to a small fire at 48 Howe St. While they were working on that fire, another one on the next block was reported. That fire destroyed two  apartment buildings at 21 and 23 Howe St., leaving homeless 25 people, including six children.

The buildings’ assessed value was $168,900 and officials said the fire started on the outside of the building.

Some residents complained they never heard smoke detectors, but LeClair said the building was equipped with working detectors.

The siding on a neighboring building at 17 Howe St. was also badly damaged.  

Though no one was hurt in the fires, residents of 21 Howe St. said they escaped with luck and the courage of passers-by.

Shelly Brewer, who lived on the third floor of 21 Howe St., said she awoke to the sound of someone hollering outside her home. She got up and looked out her kitchen window. She saw only flames. By the time she began waking her sons, ages 14 and 11, and her boyfriend, she could smell smoke. They rushed outside.

The same passers-by who woke her were helping people from the second and first floors, including an elderly woman in a wheelchair

Moments later, they heard an explosion at 23 Howe St., which is behind 21 Howe St. and separated by only a couple of feet.

Seconds later, fire engulfed the whole complex.

“It was only moments,” she said. “We had no time.”

At about 9:30 a.m., Brewer stood on the sidewalk across the street, watching firefighters and holding an American Red Cross blanket over her shoulders.

The Red Cross sent about 10 people to the scene and was offering emergency shelter, food and support.

Despite early reports of a propane explosion, LeClair said there was no evidence of that.

“With a fire of this magnitude, there are a lot of explosions,” including breaking windows that may sound like explosions, he said.

Kristie Graham, who went to the Howe Street scene to see friends who lived there, said she worried that the four fires happening all in one night was eerily similar to last spring’s fires in downtown Lewiston.

“I don’t even live in the downtown,” she said. “But I am a Lewiston resident, and I feel it. It’s like it’s happening all over again.”

Last spring, an arson spree of downtown fires began April 29. When it ended eight days later, 10 buildings were destroyed and more than 200 people were displaced.

Chiefs LeClair and Bussiere declined to comment on last year’s events or whether Thursday’s fires could be copycat crimes.

Mention of the anniversary also arose at 44 Nichols St., where the vacant building burned. But Crystal Jackson, who lives at 211 Holland St., counseled caution.

“We don’t know who did this,” she said. “We can’t jump to conclusions.”

She said she was getting up for her job as a newspaper carrier when she saw the fire next door. She woke her family and neighbors.

By the time they left their apartment at 211 Holland St., about 12 feet from 44 Nichols St., she could feel the heat from the fire inside her own bedroom. The heat torched her SUV, parked in the driveway that separated the buildings and cracked the windows on the near wall.

Though she lost her vehicle, she knew that people on Howe Street had lost more.

Brewer figures she lost all of her belongings on the third floor of 21 Howe St. All she owned could be replaced, except her mother’s ashes, she said.

She, her neighbors and her landlord and building owner, Steve Cobb, credited passers-by with helping everyone get out alive.

Brewer knew one, an old high school friend, Barry Viscone. Another was a stranger.

Kuimiye Idris, a former U.S. Marine, had the hard luck of spending the night at a friend’s home at 48 Howe St.

He woke up to the smell of smoke, he said. He ran into a hallway and discovered a pile of burning newspaper and phone books. He went outside for air and saw the inferno a block away.

He called 911 and ran to the scene.

“I was knocking and yelling,” Idris said. He didn’t worry that he might be hurt. “I was just trying to help.”

At a news conference in the driveway of 21 Howe St. on Thursday afternoon, Bussiere, LeClair and Grimes were joined by Lewiston Mayor Robert Macdonald, City Administrator Ed Barrett and other city officials. As they talked to the media, contractors were already at work clearing the driveway and tossing debris back into the house through broken windows.

The building will have to be torn down, LeClair said.

Asked about the fire spree last year, and what the city’s response had been, Bussiere noted that in the past year the city has proactively demolished a number of abandoned buildings and forced landlords to clear trash from buildings to limit options to start fires. He also said the city’s code enforcement staff worked all day Thursday, talking to landlords to remind them of the importance of securing buildings and removing trash.

Asked by a reporter whether he was angry about the fires and the instant worry they caused, Bussiere said, “It’s not my job to be angry. Our job is to find out who did this and keep the community safe.”

Police and fire officials ask anyone with information about the fires and anyone who may have seen anything at any of the fire scenes to contact their offices: Lewiston Police Department, 784-6421; State Fire Marshal’s Office, 1-800-657-3030, or 626-3870 during the business day.

Lewiston arson fires on Thursday

1:08 a.m.: 135 Oxford St.

2:58 a.m.: 44 Nichols St.

4:15 a.m.: 48 Howe St.

4:30 a.m.: 21 and 23 Howe St.

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