Middletown officials report multiple fires, arrest in suspected arson; police outline fireworks enforcement and new grants

At a Middletown Common Council meeting, fire and police leaders gave detailed reports of several recent major incidents — including a suspected arson at a commercial building — and outlined stepped-up enforcement and staffing for upcoming summer events.

Fire Chief (name not specified) told the council the department responded to a series of large calls in recent weeks. On one day the department went to a mutual-aid dispatch at National Wholesale Liquidators (address given in the meeting), attended a deck collapse that injured two people, responded to a multi-alarm fire at “Old Gilman Cleaners” on Dawson Avenue with “multiple points of origin,” and later fought a fourth-alarm fire at 256 East Main Street. The chief said the fourth-alarm fire began with an electrical problem on the second floor that extended into the attic, affected five apartments and a first-floor commercial business, and that the building remained condemned. The department also returned the next day to extinguish a rekindle in void space between the floor and ceiling.

The fire chief provided personnel counts for those responses: 21 Middletown members on the National Wholesale Liquidators call, 17 at the deck-collapse call, 32 at the 40 Dolson/Old Gilman Cleaners call (first response), and 31 members on the first response at 256 East Main Street (with 20 on the later response). He praised mutual-aid partners and said the volunteer force remains active despite staffing concerns.

Police Chief Brady said the incidents at Old Gilman Cleaners and the other commercial fire were investigated as suspected arson. Brady told the council an arrest was made: two people who had been at the scene detained the suspect; Detective Gass and Detective Bailey then interviewed the suspect, who “would only confess to one” fire, Brady said. He thanked those who assisted and said detectives would continue the investigation.

Brady also described enforcement and staffing plans for the city’s upcoming fireworks display at Davidge Park and other summer events. He said Middletown prohibits the sale, purchase and use of consumer fireworks within the city and urged residents to attend the municipal display. "Middletown does not allow fireworks to be purchased, sold, used," Brady said, and said police deployed extra staff beginning in mid‑June and will maintain additional patrol resources five to six days a week through the fall under three grant programs the department has received, identified in the meeting as the GIVE, STRIVE and SNUG grants.

Brady said the department received two additional $10,000 awards: one he said was notified to the mayor’s office from “Senator Scoofus” to support National Night Out, and another described as a $10,000 JAG grant secured through Assemblywoman Kaye to help replace equipment. The chief said extra digital signs and adjusted traffic staffing will be used to manage ingress and egress at large events and that officers will make “audibles” during events if congestion requires it.

The Department of Public Works commissioner reported the city’s reservoirs are “about 100% full” and that the city submitted a consolidated water‑withdrawal permit package to the state Department of Environmental Conservation intended to convert a temporary permit for Mill Pond into a permanent permit. The commissioner said the city has worked on the permit for years and hoped the DEC would have no further questions.

Council members and department leaders also offered condolences for a resident WSP engineer who recently died while on vacation; the DPW commissioner described the engineer as the project’s resident senior engineer and said his services were “tremendously appreciated.”

Ending

Council members thanked department staff for the public‑safety work and for the operational planning for summer events. Police and fire chiefs said investigations are ongoing for the suspected arson and that the city will continue to deploy mutual aid and grant-funded resources as needed.