JON L. HENDRICKS | THE TIMES A Hammond firefighter sprays water on an vacant building Monday at the River Park Apartment complex in Hammond. The recent rash of arsons frustrates firefighters, who say the person or people responsible are needlessly endangering firefighters.

HAMMOND | Now that the crime-plagued River Park Apartments have been shuttered and evacuated, police and firefighters have gone there more than ever.

A rash of apparent arsons forced city leaders Monday to have a Hammond cop drawing overtime posted at the 25-building complex 24 hours a day until the city can hire a contractor to level the entire complex.
Monday's fire at the vacant complex was the fourth in five days. But it was also the most destructive, leaving a roofless and charred ruin where Building 19 had been.

"It's unfortunate that someone keeps lighting them. I don't know if they're getting a kick out of it or what," Hammond Fire Inspector Richard Wheeler said.

The fires are believed to be arsons because no one is living in the buildings and all utilities have been disconnected. But physical evidence of arson has not been discovered because inspectors, fearing weakened floors, have not been allowed inside the buildings.

Hammond bought the sprawling complex last year for $14.65 million, with plans to flatten the buildings and sell the land to a private commercial developer. The 30-acre apartment complex sits at the heavily traveled intersection of Kennedy Avenue and the Borman Expressway.

While in operation, the buildings had high crime rates and toxic mold growing in some basements. When the city took possession, at least one building was abandoned because of a past arson.

City officials already are drawing up the bid-request paperwork to find a demolition contractor. It's not clear when the work will start, but Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. said it won't be a simple process because the buildings contain asbestos.

"We're putting the (request for proposals) together as we speak, but we keep having to change it because someone is burning down the buildings," said McDermott, who arrived at the scene in casual clothes on the Presidents Day holiday. "We can't knock them down soon enough."

Firefighters responded to two fires at the complex Thursday, in Buildings 18 and 22. On Sunday, they responded to a fire at Building 16. On Monday, almost all of Building 19 was engulfed in flames before the aerial truck began showering the fire from above.

Columns of black and brown smoke buffeted over emergency workers on the scene as downward wind gusts blew it toward the highway to the north and Carlson-Oxbow Park to the east. Nearby, the water from an earlier fire was frozen in a puddle outside the building.

"The punk that is doing it is endangering not only the firefighters, but also residents ... because our guys are tied up out there," Chief Fire Inspector James Walsko said. "This is just ridiculous."

Every first-floor door and window has been boarded up, and every staircase to the second level has been removed. Yet many of the second-floor apartments show signs of being broken into, either through shattered windows or beaten-in doors.

The Indiana Arson and Crime Association is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the person or people responsible for the arsons. The association's tip line is (800) 382-4628.
 

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