Latrobe officials suspect arson in trash fires

Latrobe fire officials are concerned about a recent string of suspicious blazes.

City police are investigating as an arson a fire in the early morning of April 19 that destroyed a shed used by the Latrobe Little League organization at Legion Keener Park and about $4,000 worth of league equipment stored inside.

Latrobe Fire Chief John Brasile told council Monday about more recent fires involving trash that he considers suspicious.

On May 16, he said, a trash receptacle burned at Creekside Park. The following Sunday, a 55-gallon drum burned after 5 a.m. at a pavilion near Legion Keener’s Playland, and, not too much later that morning, firefighters responded to trash on fire bordering the drive-through lane at the Rite Aid pharmacy at Depot and Ligonier streets.

In the latter fire, Brasile said, it looked as if someone may have lit a pile of leaves and garbage.

The Creekside Park fire, by itself, hadn’t seemed too concerning, Brasile said. But Sunday’s fires, he said, were “a different turn of events. It’s too coincidental at this point.”

Mayor Rosie Wolford urged residents to be vigilant and stay alert for any similar incidents. “If you see something, say something,” she said. “Call 911.”