CONCORD, NH — Police are investigating who was inside an abandoned part of the Steeplegate Mall Wednesday afternoon, playing with fire extinguishers or setting fires.
Just before 5 p.m., fire and rescue teams were sent to the east side of the mall, near the prior food court area, to investigate a report of smoke in the building. The battalion commander asked if it was someone in the mall or something else. Dispatch said the JCPenny store manager saw smoke through the store’s windows into the closed-off section of the mall.
As they drove to the scene, firefighters tried to clarify exactly where the smoke condition was. A dispatcher said no alarms appeared to be going off at the site. One firefighter wondered if the master box was active, saying it was probably down. The commander also asked if the smoke was voluminous. The dispatcher said they did not know, noting they were speaking with a member of the public.
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When firefighters arrived at the previous food court entrance, they reported seeing nothing obvious and could not access the building. The commander suggested the second wave of firefighters enter from the JCPenny side to see if they could spot fire or smoke.
“We do have limited access to the building,” the battalion commander said.
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Firefighters accessed the area through JCPenny while the commander requested police to clear the building since it appeared people were setting fires inside. They also asked dispatch to reach out to the building contact.
“It’s probably vagrants,” the commander said.
About five minutes later, the fire commander reported seeing people with flashlights running through the mall near the former Bon Ton location. The firefighters, they said, could lead the police inside.
Two officers were sent to the scene.
Later, the fire commander reported finding no fire in the mall but did report fire extinguisher residue in the food court area. Firefighters began to clear and were sent to the McDonald’s Restaurant on Loudon Road for an alarm activation.
Before clearing the mall’s east side, firefighters requested fire dispatch tell police that garage doors appeared to have been jimmied open not far from the food court entrance, which might be how people were getting inside.
Around 5:45 p.m., police cleared the building and began searching the site outside for possible suspects. They cleared the scene later.
Police have been to the mall several times in the last six months or so, issuing criminal trespass charges to teenagers and young adults from New Hampshire and Massachusetts after incidents in the abandoned buildings and parking lots. The mall is considered private property unless a person patronizes an open businesses on the site.
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