SPRINGFIELD — More than 16 people are homeless and a firefighter was injured after a Hancock Street resident lit his own bed on fire, according to a police report.
Christopher Watkins, 35, was arrested after he told an emergency dispatcher he set the fire on July 21, then fled the scene when police and firefighters arrived.
Fire Department Capt. Drew Piemonte said a firefighter suffered minor injuries as he battled the blaze and heavy black smoke, according to police reports. Sixteen other residents of the public housing unit were displaced and are receiving assistance from the Red Cross, Piemonte said.
The fire broke out just before 7 a.m. Police were dispatched to the apartment building at 500 Hancock St. to find billowing black smoke coming out of one apartment. They began banging on residents’ doors to tell them to evacuate, the police narrative says. They were unable to get to apartment B-5 because the most intense smoke was emanating from that unit.
Meanwhile, firefighters and the Arson Unit arrived at the scene, the report said, and reported that Watkins called 911 and told the dispatcher: “I set the bed on fire.”