A Hinsdale, Massachusetts man has pleaded not guilty to setting a series of fires in Pittsfield early Tuesday morning.The Berkshire Eagle reports 26-year-old Jeffrey Benoit has been charged in connection with setting multiple fires in Pittsfield’s Morningside neighborhood.
Firefighters responded to a fire at 40 Perrine Avenue around 2:30 a.m. Tuesday, according to the Pittsfield Fire Department. The Eagle reports Benoit had been kicked out of a party at that residence and returned twice, but was not let inside the second time. After Benoit left, residents saw knee-high flames in a stairway outside the apartment. Firefighters then found two trash can fires and a pile of leaves on fire on Plunkett Street along with a car fully engulfed in flames on Kellogg Street.
Police say Benoit was carrying a lighter. He is being held pending a dangerousness hearing next week.
