Before police arrived, the Springfield Fire Division had already put the fire out and cleared the scene.
When officers got to the scene, they spoke with the reporting person who said she smelled something burning around 7:45 p.m., “and looking outside discovered that her husband’s work van was on fire,” the report stated.
Officers found the Ford van to be “completely destroyed by fire damage, as well as all the tools which were inside of it,” the report stated. They also found fire damage to a portion of the porch near the van.
A short time before that incident, officers were dispatched around 8:50 p.m. on Wednesday to the 20 block of North Douglas Avenue regarding the fire division requesting help from police, according to a Springfield police report.
When police arrived, they spoke with the victim who said, “an unknown suspect lit a sock on fire and dropped it inside a hole in the drywall.”
The victim said that she believes the suspect is a woman who had previously lived at the house with her.
“(The victim) eventually located the source of the smoke. There was an old hole in the drywall behind the basement door which was emanating smoke,” the report stated.
The victim told police she had to kick a hole in the wall to remove the smoldering sock and insulation from inside the wall.
According to the report, the victim said that there were several other people inside the house at the time she detected smoke.
No other suspect information was available for either incident, and Springfield police continue their investigations.
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