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Firefighters search of extension of flames into the framing of a house at 372 Sumner Avenue Saturday morning, as they extinguish what investigators are calling a deliberately set fire.

(Dave Canton,Republican)

SPRINGFIELD — A house fire that sent seven people out into the cold was deliberately set, Springfield fire officials said.

Dennis Leger, aide to Fire Commissioner Joseph Conant, said investigators believe the Saturday morning fire at 372 Sumner Ave. was arson, and they are asking for the public's help in finding the person responsible for the blaze.

A passerby reported the blaze shortly after 1 a.m., telling a dispatcher that the front of the house was on fire. Firefighters arrived on scene to find flames climbing the outside of the three-story house.

Gladys Wolmart said she was asleep in a back bedroom in her first-floor apartment when firefighters came banging on the back door. She said she grabbed her caged birds and ran out of the house.

A front bedroom in her apartment was damaged by the fire. Leger estimated damage between $5,000 to $10,000.

A family of five people on the second floor also escaped unharmed.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Springfield Arson and Bomb Squad at 787-6370, or can anonymously text a tip to CRIMES, followed by the word SOLVE and the message.