1

JERREY ROBERTS

A firefighter surveys the scene at the 17 Fair St. arson fire Dec. 27, which claimed the lives of two residents.

NORTHAMPTON - The Northwestern district attorney's office has denied two public records requests for Northampton Fire Department records related to the city's Dec. 27 arson rampage.

In the days following the fires, the Gazette sought access to the Fire Department's dispatch and 911 recordings, as well as incident reports for what are now known to be 15 structure and vehicles fires set around the downtown on Dec. 27.

The DA's decision regarding emergency audio recordings and incident reports cites exemptions to the state's Public Records Law. Among the exemptions cited is "investigatory materials necessarily compiled out of public view by law enforcement or other investigatory officials the disclosure of which materials would probably so prejudice the possibility of effective law enforcement that such disclosure would not be in the public interest."

The DA's office also cited an exemption related to personnel and medical files, or other information that could constitute "an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy," which is the most frequently used exemption to releasing records.

Police arrested Anthony P. Baye, 25, of 85 Hawley St. on Jan. 4. Baye pleaded innocent to two counts of murder and charges of arson and armed burglary in connection with the fatal fire that killed a father and son at 17 Fair St.

Authorities say their investigation is ongoing and that charges relating to other fires set that night are forthcoming. "Publication of the incident reports could jeopardize and impede this investigation," Assistant District Attorney Judith Ellen Pietras wrote in a Jan. 14 letter to the Gazette. "Accordingly, these reports cannot be released to the public now."

The Gazette made the records requests to gain a fuller understanding of the series of fires that broke out and destroyed homes, vehicles and killed people in the early morning hours, as well as how police, firefighters and dispatchers responded.

The newspaper's records requests were initially made to the Northampton Fire Department, which turned them over to the DA's office.

That decision can be appealed to the secretary of state's office.

Dan Crowley can be reached at dcrowley@gazettenet.com.