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Suspicious fires

At left is the abandoned pickup truck police say was set ablaze on Sunday with the steps. It appears firefighters got there just in time as the outside wall is charred, showing that flames were spreading. LANA MUTHLER/ THE EXPRESS

Police ask public to help catch arsonist

By LANA MUTHLER

lmuthler@lockhaven.com

LOCK HAVEN — “Somebody’s setting fires.”

That was the remark of Lock Haven Fire Chief Bob Neff as he talked about four fires that erupted in a one-block area near the Fallon Hotel within about four hours on Sunday.

LANA MUTHLER/ THE EXPRESS A wider view of the damage to the back stairs at the Fallon Hotel is shown.

He said he believes all are arson and an investigation is underway by Lock Haven City Police and State Police Fire Marshal Cpl. Nick Loffredo.

Lock Haven Police Chief Kristen Smith said Monday there are no strong suspects at this point, asking for the public’s help in finding the person or persons who started the fires.

Anyone with any information, or anyone who saw anything or anyone, is asked to call city police at 570-893-5911.

Two of the fires were on the back stairs of a back entrance leading into the Fallon Hotel; another was in an old abandoned pick-up truck parked behind the Fallon and the fourth fire was in a dumpster in an alley just about a block away, Neff said.

Firefighters from Lock Haven responded to a report of a truck fire at about 4:35 p.m. Sunday.

LANA MUTHLER/THE EXPRESS These steps at a rear entrance to the Fallon Hotel show where an apparent arsonist set two fires on Sunday. An abandoned pickup truck, below, which was parked behind the hotel, was also set on fire on Sunday. And a dumpster erupted into flames in an alley not far from the Fallon, the fourth suspicious fire on Sunday.

They found an abandoned pickup truck had been set on fire.

It was left behind by a hotel guest and has been parked behind the hotel for a couple of years, Neff said.

As volunteers were dousing the truck fire, they discovered a fire along the steps outside the Fallon Hotel in the back of the building, Neff said.

” We put it out fairly quickly. It caused light damage to the building,” the chief said.

“At about 9 p.m., we were called back to the same scene and found another fire had been set on the same steps as the previous one. There was more damage this time … not significant structural damage, but damage to the steps and siding,” Neff said. He said the fire was called into the Clinton County Emergency Communications Center.

“And while we were there, a call came in that a Dumpster had burst into flames in the alley between Jay and Grove Streets … just up from the courthouse,” Neff said.

“We never went to that fire. It was put out by residents living in a row of houses on East Water Street,” he said.

One of those residents was outside cleaning up Monday afternoon and said the Dumpster was emptied earlier in the day.

This isn’t the first time there has been a fire at the historic Fallon Hotel. About a year ago, firefighters were called and found steps inside the hotel–also at the rear of the building–had been set afire.

A local man was charged with arson in that fire and remains in the county prison as he works his way through the court system.

As to how Sunday’s fires were started, Neff said it’s not known at this time. The investigation is ongoing.

He asked for the public to report anything they may have seen or heard that could help police make an arrest for the fires.

The Fallon Hotel has been closed and vacant for about five months.

Owners Delores and Terry Mantle of Jersey Shore closed the building, which was used as a boarding house and tavern, in December after the heating system failed. They then put the building up for sale for $275,000.

However, it’s now reported that a sale is pending on the Fallon and the list price is $235,000.

The current listing is through Berkshire Hathaway Home Services, which has an office in Lock Haven.

The Fallon had been a boarding house and a tavern for a long time in Lock Haven. Its history, however, is rich.

The book Lock Haven, 1833-1983 offers the following information, from John P. Wynne’s history of the hotel: “The Fallon, built in 1855 with Queen of Spain Maria Christina’s money garnered from a $5 million sale of land in Florida, dates from that time in Europe when more than one monarch quietly prepared to find refuge in American should revolution crash down upon his or her throne. Maria Christina looked to Clinton County, through her agents, John and Christopher Fallon, natives of Cadiz, Spain. They built her a Mansion House in Farrandsville, and in Lock Haven, what they called the Fallon House.

“In 1874, John W. Smith, prosperous lumberman and mayor of Lock Haven, purchased the hotel. A new section was added in 1900… and an extension in 1946.

“In 1889, the year of the great June flood, an advertisement said of the Fallon…. “72 elegantly furnished sleeping rooms. Rates $2 per day. Furnished throughout with electric call bells. Sample rooms for commercial travelers. A host of obliging and intelligent servants, careful of the wants of guests.”

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