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Suspicious Blaze Destroys Old Factory The view from Chopper 6 showed a raging fire attacking a factory building at 2nd and Lippencott in the Kensington section of Philadelphia Monday night.

Authorities doubt that this was an innocent blaze.

Philadelphia`s office of Licenses and Inspections says it has been chasing troublemakers out of the abandoned building for the last two weeks. It`s an old popsicle factory, and it seems that youngsters have been breaking into it and lighting fires with the old popsicle sticks. Monday night, one of those fires went to two alarms, and they were still dousing hot spots just before midnight.

3100 North Second Street became immersed in a cloud of black smoke.

Firefighters had their hoses trained on the old popsicle factory for much of the evening.

Even before gaining direct physical evidence, investigators knew this one didn`t go up by accident.

Department Chief Joe Mack/Philadelphia Fire Department: "Well time of day, there were no real services into the building, the building had been open to trespass to some extent, they were looking to bring the building down."

A police officer and a fire investigator were seen talking to three young boys.

The boys claim they might have seen the individuals responsible for torching the north part of the warehouse.

There have been at least three arson fires set here in the last two weeks.

Old popsicle sticks, apparently, make for good kindling for kids up to no good.

Joseph Nelson/Kensington: "They go in, try and light fires and stuff, and take the matches."

Louis Chevere/Kensington: "They come out with boxes of popsicles, fudge and all this other stuff... They just run around, throwing stuff and everything... Light fires."

Delco Metals, a salvage company, occupies the south part of the building.

Thanks to a firewall separating it from the abandoned north part, and the efforts of firefighters, several people will still have jobs come Tuesday morning.

The flames threatened no nearby residences. L&I says it had this building on the radar screen for demolition before it ever went to two alarms. The agency hopes to begin knocking down the north part of building very early Tuesday, so there will be one less empty factory in Philadelphia where mischievous children might start fires.

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Author: 6 ABC - Action News (AP)