Mayor calls city hall fire suspicious
A five-alarm fire at the historic Taunton City Hall is being called suspicious.
The blaze broke out around 8:30 Tuesday morning.
- Mayor Charles Crowley says he has questions about how the fire started while the fire chief would only say the cause in under investigation.
Crowley says he questions the cause because of ongoing legal issues relative to people who were in the building at the time of the fire.
Started in an attic storage area and worked it's way down to the lower floors.
Damage is estimated at more than half-a-million dollars.
A source tells WBZ NewsRadio that just before the blaze broke out, the owner of the Star Theatre, located next to city hall, was in the building.
The owner, Michael O'Donnell, has had an ongoing feud with city hall for failing to remove combustible material from the theatre.
A civil hearing in that case was to be held Tuesday in Fall River Southern Housing Court.
