Suspicious fires at former Salem bird farm have neighbors feeling uneasy
Salem — Residents who live near the Gardner Lake Volunteer Fire Co. headquarters are starting to get nervous.
It’s not as though the folks who live next to a fire department aren’t used to hearing firetrucks and sirens — they are.
But recently the trucks have had to travel only half a mile or so to find the fires they’re trying to fight.
Earlier this year, there were two brush fires at 343 Old Colchester Road, home of what used to be the Bourdeau Pheasant Farm.
On Aug. 24, a blaze at the property — which until recently housed thousands of pheasants, quail and partridges — destroyed a 75-foot-long bird coop.
On Tuesday, a fourth fire burned a 10-foot-long coop.
And Wednesday, flames engulfed debris in the morning and a 20-by-20-foot structure in the evening, decimating the latter.
Again on Thursday evening, firefighters were called out to the site, this time to extinguish a burning hay bale inside a shed on the property.
The fires, which police said appear to be intentionally set, have sparked a criminal investigation.
“Everybody I talk to is nervous about it,” said Bob Nadeau, who lives across from the Gardner Lake fire station, which is at 429 Old Colchester Road.
He said he was one of the people who saw smoke from the late afternoon fire Tuesday, the first of this week’s four blazes.
“I pulled over to the side of the road and was trying to determine whose property it was,” he said, adding that he occasionally hunts — with permission — on nearby property owned by another resident. That property is on the same side of the road as the defunct farm.
When he realized where the flames were, he said, Nadeau drove straight to the fire station and told fire officials to check it out.
In the days since the Tuesday fire, Nadeau said, state police have come by his house, asking what he knows about the situation.
Police “may have their suspicions” about who’s behind the fires, he said, “but I don’t have a clue.”
“I spoke to a couple of neighbors, and they’re very nervous about it,” Nadeau said.
“But I’m not too nervous,” he said, gesturing to his three large dogs that loudly greet anyone who comes to the door.
On the other side of the road, Zoey Toth, who’s lived in the area for about three years, said she’s uneasy, too.
Until police catch the perpetrator, she wondered, who’s to say the person or people won’t burn something near her property and cause her to lose everything?
Despite her heightened senses, Toth said she hasn’t seen anything suspicious — just firetrucks going back and forth.
“We’re very nervous about it,” Toth said.
According to Gardner Lake Volunteer Fire Co. Deputy Chief John Cunningham, the Wednesday evening fire — the second blaze Wednesday and the third this week at 343 Old Colchester Road — began about 6:25 p.m. and took somewhere between half an hour and an hour to quell.
Cunningham said firefighters, who’d been called for a smoke investigation at the address, found the structure fully engulfed upon arrival.
About 23 propane tanks were aflame inside it, he said, noting that they likely already were there.
Cunningham said officials remained on the scene until about 10 p.m.
About 11 a.m. Wednesday, firefighters also were at 343 Old Colchester Road, where a pile of debris had caught fire.
That fire took about 20 minutes to knock down, Cunningham said.
Thursday's fire was reported at about 5:45 p.m. and took only a few minutes to extinguish, he said.
The farm until recently was home to thousands of pheasants, quail and partridges sold to local conservation, hunting and game clubs. It closed after the death of owner Donald Bourdeau Sr. in September 2015 and his wife, Anne, in February.
Anne Bourdeau in her will had left the farm to her son, Donald Bourdeau Jr.; as of Wednesday the case was making its way through probate court. The 60-acre, overgrown property has no electricity.
Because Salem’s fire marshal, Donald Bourdeau Jr., is the son of the farm’s former owners, Deputy Fire Marshal Ed Shafer has taken the lead on the investigation.
Also assisting in the investigation are detectives from the state police Fire and Explosion Investigation Unit and from the Eastern District Major Crime Squad.
Police said that although the fires appear to be intentionally set, the causes are still officially under investigation.
Cunningham said state police have announced a $2,500 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or people responsible.
When asked if the firefighters were getting tired of the repeated calls at the farm, Cunningham said, "yes." Citing the ongoing investigation, he declined any further comment.
State police have asked anyone with information about the fires to call Detective Fratellenico at (860) 465-5456 or the confidential crime tip hotline at (860) 465-5469. People also can text “TIP711” and the information to 274637.
All calls and texts are kept confidential.
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