STOCKTON SPRINGS – Town firefighters put out a fire that consumed a shed Wednesday night. A hour-and-a-half later, they were called back to the same Route 1 property for a fire on the porch of an adjacent home.

Stockton Springs Fire Chief Harry Patterson Jr. said the pair of fires were initially deemed “suspicious” and reported to the Office of the State Fire Marshal. An investigator subsequently visited the scene.

Speaking on Thursday afternoon, Sgt. Ken Grimes of the state Fire Marshal’s Office said that both fires have been classified as “intentionally set.”

Patterson said his department got the report of a fire at around 10:30 p.m. Wednesday. They responded to a property on Route 1 — Patterson did not recall the address. There, firefighters found a burning 12-by-12-foot shed. They put out the fire but the shed was destroyed, he said.

The second call came at around 12:30 a.m. Thursday, Patterson said. Firefighters returned to the same property and the enclosed porch of an adjacent two-story house was on fire.

“We extinguished the fire and saved the house,” he said.

Patterson said the house was vacant and uninhabited. He believed the last property owner was deceased and the buildings and land were currently held in a trust.

Grimes said the investigation, which includes a combination of forensic evidence from the scene and interviews with neighbors and others, is continuing. 

Ethan Andrews can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com