The Coatesville, Pennsylvania arsons refer to a spree of deliberately set fires in 2008 and 2009 in the area of Coatesville, Pennsylvania, a small Philadelphia suburb. There were 26 fires set in Coatesville in the year 2008 and, since January 1, 2009, there have been 18 reported cases of arson in the city and five more in the surrounding area. The fires have caused more than $3 million in damage, left scores of people homeless and resulted in the death of one 83-year-old woman. As of March 2009, six people have been arrested in connection with some of the fires. Arsons , there were 18 fires set in Coatesville, Pennsylvania and five in nearby surrounding areas since January 1, 2009. The city originally reported 15 cases of arson in 2008, but upon further investigation due to media requests for more information, the number of reported 2008 arsons was increased to 26. Coatesville, which is less than two square miles in size, receives about one or two arsons in a normal year. The fires have caused more than $3 million in damage so far. By February, one death had been reported as a result of the arsons. Irene Kempest, an 83-year-old widow and Nazi war camp survivor, was killed due to smoke inhalation when her Strode Avenue home in Coatesville was set ablaze on December 7, 2008 at about 12:20 a.m. Emergency responders searching the building found Kempest was unconscious upstairs and removed her from the house, but she died in an area hospital the next day. The fire was one of four set between December 6 and December 9 alone. George Donkewicz, 22, was arrested for setting the fire that killed Kempest and an additional fire from December 9. Donkewicz, who has been charged with murder and other charges, is one of three people to have been arrested so far in connection with the Coatesville arsons. (See Arrests section below.) The largest reported fire by early 2009 occurred January 24, 2009, when nearly an entire block of row houses on Fleetwood Street in Coatesville were burned down. The four-alarm fire was the fourteenth reported Coatesville area arson reported in 2009. Authorities said it was set in the back of one of the houses during the night and quickly spread to adjacent homes, destroying 15 houses in total and causing between $1.2 million and $2 million in damages. Fourteen families, constituting