Four Kids Charged in Connection with Ideal Forging Fire

A fire at Ideal Forging last week started after four local children entered the building and lit cardboard of fire within a small storage area in the complex, according to a fire investigation, and police have now charged the children with criminal mischief and arson.

Sgt. Lowell DePalma said in a press release that the four children, all boys, entered the property just before 7 p.m. on May 25 and wandered around before setting the fire. They tried to put it out, he said, but left when flames began to spread.

“The area is clearly marked no trespassing,” DePalma said.

Three 12-year-olds and one 14-year-old were each cited on charges of third-degree criminal trespassing and two of the boys, including the 14-year-old, were also booked on one charge of third-degree arson.

The names were not released because of their age and police said the boys have all been referred to the Juvenile Matters office at New Britain Superior Court in June.

The fire was the second of two just five weeks apart in the abandoned complex. No arrests have been made in connection with the first fire, which erupted in the elevator shaft of one of the buildings near Center Street.

The May 25 fire occurred just one day after demolition began for development of Greenway commons, a mixed-use retail and residential development planned by New York-based developers Meridian Development.

Since it was abandoned a decade ago, the site has been prone to mischief, fire officials said.