SPRINGFIELD – One or more suspects, apparently using a torch to burn into a pair of stolen safes inside a vacant home in the McKnight neighborhood early Wednesday, fled after smoke generated by smoldering papers inside one of the safes set off a smoke detector in a house next door.

Firefighters were summoned to a vacant home at 168 Marion St. shortly after 4:30 a.m., Dennis Leger, aide to Commissioner Joseph Conant said.

The safes had apparently been stolen elsewhere and brought to 168 Marion St., Leger said. “Apparently vagrants and vandals have been going in and out of the place for a while,” he said.

The safe in question was found in the living room and investigators found a small crowbar, a pair of pliers and a flashlight nearby, Leger said.

Police and the Springfield Arson & Bomb Squad were summoned to the scene, Leger said, adding that he had no additional information on the stolen safes or what may have been inside.

Police were not immediately available for comment.