A dollar's worth of firecrackers touched off a conflagration on the West Side
After rescue of boy, 6, in house fire, officials arrest street peddler
A man spent Tuesday afternoon selling fireworks out of his red sport utility vehicle on Buffalo’s West Side.
He sold four firecrackers for 25 cents each, and they ended up in the hands of a 6-year-old boy, who ignited one inside a bedroom. It started a raging fire that damaged four houses and left six families homeless.
But within eight hours, fire marshals were able to track down the alleged fireworks merchant, Leon Sapp Jr., 49, of Midland Avenue, Town of Tonawanda. He became their 59th fire-related arrest this year and the second one related to fireworks in the last week.
“Basically, we do what police detectives do. We’re investigating fires along the same lines that police detectives do their investigations,” said Lt. Sal Colangelo, head of the fire marshal’s office. “Some of us collect fingerprints and blood samples; we do background checks; we do interviews and interrogations.”
Last year’s total of 121 was the highest number of fire-related arrests since the fire investigation office began five years ago.
Arrests rose by 68 percent from 2006, when the unit made 72 fire-related arrests.
The 6-year-old boy was in a bedroom of his grandfather’s home at 235 Vermont St. when he ignited the firecracker and put it on a mattress just after 4 p. m. Wednesday, fire officials reported. The boy, who lives in Ohio, had been staying at his grandfather’s home for two weeks.
When the fire spread inside the bedroom, the boy reportedly tried to extinguish it by using a cup of water, but the flames quickly spread throughout the 2z-story house between Plymouth and Normal avenues.
The bedroom door became shut, trapping the boy inside, but his aunt broke a window in the door and pulled the boy to safety, and they were able to escape the fire.
The intense flames also spread to neighboring 231 and 237 Vermont, both occupied homes. A cottage to the rear, at 329 Plymouth, had exposure damage.
The boy suffered first-degree burns to his right arm. Paramedics treated him at the scene, and he was released to his guardian.
Damage to the four structures was estimated at $110,000.
Both 235 and 231 Vermont have been scheduled for emergency demolition, which will cost the city an estimated $56,000, Colangelo said.
Fire investigators believe that Sapp brought the fireworks from Pennsylvania to sell illegally on Buffalo street corners.
Authorities say three children had contact with the illegal fireworks that caused the Vermont Street fires — the 6-year-old boy and two others, ages 9 and 10.
“We do not believe that he sold the fireworks directly to the three kids,” Colangelo said of Sapp.
“We believe there were other parties involved. We’re investigating whether an adult may have been involved in the purchase of the fireworks.”
Sapp was being held Wednesday in the Erie County Holding Center after not posting $3,500 bail. He is facing two misdemeanor charges — endangering the welfare of a child and unlawful dealing with fireworks — and is scheduled to return to City Court on July 17.
Last Friday, officials seized two tons of commercial fireworks from a warehouselike facility in the Clinton-Bailey area. Kevin P. Domblewski, 40, of Cochrane Street, was arrested in what investigators said was the largest single confiscation of fireworks in the county.
Colangelo, who commands the nine-member fire marshal’s office, attributed much of the increase in fire-related arrests to city officials’ allowing the fire marshals to conduct their investigations round-the-clock.
“The mayor has really given us the support to investigate these cases from start to finish,” Colangelo said. “In the past, if the guys were off duty, they wouldn’t be able to follow up until four days later, when they were back on the schedule, and by then, the suspect may have already left town.
“Now we’re granted the overtime to follow the hot leads and work the case right though. All of this support leads us to be a better unit.”
The number of arson fires in Buffalo has dropped — 435 last year, compared with 565 in 2005, the high figure for the last five years.
Colangelo believes that arson is declining because fire marshals are arresting more serial arsonists. For the last five years, fire marshals have had the status of peace officers, which gives them the authority to carry a weapon and make arrests.
Fire Marshals Edwin Ortiz and George Arthur, along with Colangelo, spent a continuous 15 hours investigating the two-alarm blaze on Vermont Street.
When the fire marshals arrived at the scene, they tracked down a witness who gave them a partial license plate number of a getaway vehicle.
The marshals then executed a Department of Motor Vehicles search, narrowed a list of possible vehicles, and tracked down Sapp, who was the getaway vehicle’s registered owner.
Fire marshals interviewed Sapp, who eventually confessed, authorities said. Sapp was arrested late Tuesday night at the fire marshal’s office on Elmwood Avenue.
The marshals also seized about $1,000 worth of fireworks from his SUV, which was parked at his home, with assistance from Town of Tonawanda police and the Erie County sheriff’s bomb squad, fire officials said.
