meriden

Multiple Vehicle Fires Under Investigation in Meriden

Three cars were on fire in the lot in front of 89 Bronson Ave. in Meriden while residents and neighbors were still asleep on Tuesday.

Jaime Cannistra’s car was one of them and it is unrecognizable this morning.

“At 3:30 this morning, I heard the alarm going off and I thought it was the lights flashing from the car alarm but no, woke up to it on flames,” she said.

Cannistra believes someone set her car on fire intentionally, but she doesn’t think she was the target.

“I know it’s not personal because I don’t hang with anybody. Work and family, that’s it for me.”

Just up the hill from the lot where Cannistra’s car was parked, Nora Peck watched the fire through her window until firefighters arrived to the scene.

Police are investigating multiple vehicle fires in two different locations in Meriden early Tuesday morning.

“I thought it was something like electrical or somebody tried to fix something themselves, but then I saw that other cars were on fire so, I don’t know, it’s pretty scary,” said Peck.

Police said in a statement that there were three car fires on Bronson Avenue and one on Hanover Street. 

A fifth vehicle was vandalized on Cook Avenue.

“We’re also calling our detective bureau to see if there’s any kind of correlation between these,” said Meriden Police Sergeant Christopher Fry. “It certainly looks as though somebody’s setting these fire intentionally. We are right now preliminarily assuming it’s the same group of people which we hope to be able to identify and hold them responsible.”

In the meantime, Cannistra can drive her mom’s car to work. But she hopes whoever is responsible for destroying her car is caught.

“I just want somebody to catch ‘em and put ‘em into jail because it’s not just me, it’s other people who they’ve gone and done this too,” said Cannistra.

Contact Us