Last Thursday at approximately 2:50 a.m., two plastic trash bins were intentionally set on fire in Streeter Hall. No injuries were reported and an investigation is underway.
In an email sent to campus early Thursday morning, Safety and Security director Harry Kinne wrote that the incident has been labeled a felony arson. A felony arson is a fire set by someone on the property of another without permission to do so.
The fire alarm went off immediately and all Streeter residents evacuated to the study rooms in Gile Hall, the adjacent residence hall. Students dispersed to friends’ rooms in other buildings as well. Officers were unable to give an accurate time estimate for how long the immediate investigation would take and students were not able to enter Streeter for two and a half hours.
Rachel Van Gelder ’18, who lives in Streeter, was asleep when the alarm went off.
“I assumed it was just a prank or someone had pulled the alarm and it was a false thing,” Van Gelder said. “We all got out of our rooms through the side staircase and you could smell smoke so we were kind of freaked out.”
As she walked down the stairs to evacuate, Van Gelder said she was able to see the fire. Though two bins are said to have been set on fire, she only saw one recycling bin in flames, she added.
Officers returned to the site the next day.
Hanover Police and the State Fire Marshall’s office have begun the process of speaking with witnesses as part of the active investigation, Hanover Police Chief Charlie Dennis said.
The investigators are searching for the source of the fire as well as the intent, Dennis said.
The investigation will be conducted by the State Fire Marshall, Hanover Police, the Hanover Fire Department and Safety and Security.
New Hampshire criminal code RSA 634:1 classifies two categories of arson, Class A felony and a Class B felony. A Class A felony includes damaging property that is an occupied structure, which the actor was aware of, or a historic structure. Class B felonies include arson of either the actor or another’s property done for the purpose of collecting insurance on damaged property. Class B is defined as arson purposefully started, recklessly placing others in the danger of death or serious bodily injury or damage someone else’s occupied property. Arson that involves real estate being damaged or loss in excess of $1,000 falls under the Class B category. All other arson is classified as a misdemeanor.
While both kinds of felonies come with hefty fines, Class A felonies are associated with upwards of seven to 15 years in New Hampshire state prison and Class B felonies are associated with three and a half to seven years, said Jeffery Rabinowitz, a New Hampshire attorney not affiliated with this arson case.
Setting trash bins on fire in a dorm is most likely not for the purpose of collecting insurance and the bins are not historic structures. The trash bins, are, however, the property of the College and located inside an occupied structure. If the bins were set on fire with the intention of burning the building down that would be a Class B felony, Rabinowitz said based on the information given.
Kinne said that an event like this has not occurred in recent years. Dennis said that there have been a couple of smaller fires involving trash bins earlier in the year, but nothing to the extent of this incident.
