Series of suspicious vehicle fires under investigation in Troy

LANSINGBURGH – Gallo Construction is renovating the pavilion in Powers Park. The park will be hosting its concert series starting next month.

However, crews found a charred piece of equipment inside the park near 111th Street and 3rd Avenue when they arrived Wednesday morning. The forklift is badly burned. They can’t drive it. Someone set fire to it and destroyed everything inside.

It’s one of four separate vehicle fires that police are investigating in the Lansingburgh section of Troy.

One vehicle may have been occupied just before the fire.

There will be an increased police presence in the community to help with the investigation, and to try to give residents some peace of mind, police said.

One mother in the neighborhood said she’s going to put up more cameras, and she’s concerned for the neighborhood children.

“For one, this is a good neighborhood,” she said. “I don’t mind it. But it’s scary sometimes, too, because of the kids that are playing. You’ve got kids that will ride their bikes and kids that play football, and then that park that’s full of kids.”

All the fires happened late Tuesday into Wednesday and in vehicles, said police, and no buildings were involved.

Police are going through surveillance video that they’ve collected already from the community. They have no suspect description to release at this time, they said.

They are asking people in the area to review their security video for anything suspicious between the hours of 11:30 p.m. Tuesday and 2 a.m. Wednesday.

Anyone with information can call Troy Police at (518) 270-4421.