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The fires of Somerville on a map


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As a Somerville resident, I've done lots of Google searches trying to figure out just how close all of these fires have been to my apartment. I imagined that a map like this would be readily available, but I certainly didn't see any before. Good work!

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I was also surprised that there wasn’t already a map — and I didn’t notice this discussion about it until today, but I’ve revised it based on feedback here.

The good news is that the last fire was a month ago. The curious news is that the Cavalia circus ended a month ago. The curiouser news is that it went on to Washington DC from here, and now they seem to have an arson problem. Quoting from a somewhat syntax-challenged post at “The Somerville News Weekly” the other day:

Here’s another rumor that’s circulating around the Ville that we heard has started from the top dog down at the Fire Marshal’s office and is believed to be leading investigators and criminal analyst and others thinking that the string of arson fires that were happening in the Ville over the past two months were allegedly somehow connected to a Cavalia Horse Show employee that is rumored to have to been starting those fires around the city.

Some are saying that the fires all started at about the same time period when the horse show came to town and the fires stopped when the show left town. Another reason that some are believing this might be true is because we heard that the same type of suspicious fires have started where the show’s big white top has recently driven it’s stakes into the ground after they left Somerville and arrived at their new venue in Washington? We just hope that Somerville has seen the last of any fires!

And it does seem like there may be something to this, maybe. Cavalia Odysseo started its DC run at the start of October, and the Washington Post reported that there were a couple of suspicious house fires in NW DC on October 8th, and then another suspicious house fire in Bowie, MD this week. Coincidence?

According to Wikipedia, before coming to Somerville, it looks like the Odysseo tour had been to Montreal, Atlanta, Miami, Toronto, Monterrey (México), Scottdale AZ, & Burbank CA — but not necessarily in that order. It looks like it was in Burbank from Feb-Apr, but it was in Miami in ~March 2012, etc. It would be illuminating to come up with dates for these runs, and then cross-check that against news reports in those cities, and see if there’s more of a pattern of unusual, possibly still-unexplained house fires.

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The fire marked 313 somerville ave should be 313 summer street.

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You’re right. Not sure what happened there, but this has been amended on the map. Thanks!

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There was also a fire on Lewis Street in July or August that does not seem to be on the map. I hope they catch whoever is doing this very soon. As a longtime Somerville resident I find this development really scary and upsetting.

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The 25 Lewis St fire from July 12th is on the map — third one on the list.

Was there another on that street, or is this the one you’re thinking of?

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The Magoun Square (486 Medford St.) fire shows up on the map across the tracks at Somerville Junction Park - weird.

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Not sure what happened there, but you’re right, this pin was off by several blocks. I’ve just fixed it. Thanks!

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This particular troop for Cavalia was in Laval, Quebec earlier in the year (where their North American HQ is).

They moved to Boston next and now Washington DC.

They are next headed to Vancouver, BC.

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