ARKHAM AFLAME!

Bad Luck or Fire Bugs?

Rash of Fires has Fire and Police Departments on the Hop!

A series of fires has strained the resources of the Arkham Fire and Police Departments. Citizens are demanding answers. While these incidents are a sad fact of urban life, especially during Arkham’s recovery from the past six months, the incredible increase in recent days has distressed and disturbed Arkhamites.

Catalog of Tragedy

Four serious fires have broken out in the last three days alone.

This past week, flames engulfed the River Docks warehouse owned by the dry goods firm of Scroop & Sons. The fire spread so quickly that by the time fire engines arrived on scene, little could be done beyond ensuring that the flames did not leap across rooftops to neighboring warehouses. Prompt action averted a catastrophe that could have swept the district, but Messrs. Scroop have nothing left of their property but charred ruins.

The following day, a second fire broke out in the Barbary Manor apartment building in Northside, and the third lit up the Prize Catch Diner in Rivertown.

The Barbary Manor, astute readers will have surmised, is a typical Northside tenement hiding behind a grand name. The flames originated in its basement early in the evening, then climbed the other floors rapidly, its spread undoubtedly aided by the insalubrious conditions the district is well-known for.

Police offered their assistance to firefighters in evacuating the stricken building, and their combined efforts ensured that the evening was not marked by large-scale tragedy. Even so, two residents of the top floor lost their lives: Robert O’Brien and Gerry Torres, both factory workers.

The Prize Catch Diner has been something of a Rivertown institution for over twenty years. A blaze erupted in its kitchen shortly after closing time, even as the Barbary Manor conflagration was still being brought under control. It is fortunate that no one was on the premises. The combination of grease-streaked walls and drums of cooking oil proved to be explosive, and it is fortunate that the diner was isolated from other buildings by its position at a street intersection, and the presence of the railway to the rear. By the time the overworked fire brigade arrived on scene, little remained to mark what had once been a popular haunt.

Finally, last night, the stately residence of the ship-owner Ezekiel Harrington and his family lost its east wing to the fourth and final blaze. Quick action doused the fire with little losses. Arkham can rest easy that it did not lose one of its more prominent scions.

Accident, or Worse…?

Can the Arkham Advertiser attribute so many fires to misadventure? Interviewed at the scene of the Barbary Manor blaze, heroic Officer Tommy Muldoon said, “Whoever is doing this must be stopped.” However, his superiors have subsequently refused to collaborate that arson is suspected. In every case, the presence of flammable materials does make unfortunate happenstance a plausible scenario.

Arkham residents are reminded to store all such products safely.

Arkham Horror: The Card Game Chapter 2 is available March 20 from Fantasy Flight Games.