GORHAM — Judy Getchell was accustomed to leaving her car and the house where she lives with her mother and son unlocked.

But after the fourth suspicious fire in two weeks in north Gorham, she, like many residents in the rural suburb, is worried and taking precautions.

“It’s scary,” said Getchell, who has lived in the area all of her life. “When I see a car parked down the road, you’re checking on it now.”

“I’m scared to death,” said her mother, Anita Durgin.

Fire destroyed a garage at 215 Buck St. on Sunday afternoon and melted siding on the adjacent house. The owner, Adam Frederick, was at his grandmother’s home for Easter dinner.

The fire happened just around the corner from 70 Spiller Road, where someone set fire to a house on March 27. That fire didn’t have a chance to intensify because two Gorham firefighters happened to be driving past and saw flames licking at the side of the house.

Investigators with the state Fire Marshal’s Office said that fire was arson, as were two fires days later. A fire on March 31 destroyed the Gorham SnoGoers clubhouse at 209 Mighty St., and a fire on April 1 destroyed the house at 5 Great Falls Road.

Investigators stopped short of declaring Sunday’s fire arson.

“We’re not able to say 100 percent it’s related to the other ones,” said Sgt. Joel Davis, who is leading the investigation into the fires.

Davis noted differences between the fires, including that the home where Sunday’s fire happened is occupied, while the other buildings were not.

“The only thing really connected is the fact it’s in the same neighborhood,” Davis said.

However, the location and timing of the fire suggest strongly that it is connected, he said.

Investigators searched the rubble for hours Sunday night but did not settle on the cause. An electrical inspector is scheduled to examine the rubble this morning, at least to rule out one possible cause of the blaze, Davis said.

A fire investigator and a Gorham police detective went door to door Monday night, interviewing neighborhood residents.

Getchell said she has been on watch since it became clear that an arsonist was at work, but she hasn’t seen anything suspicious. Her teenage son and his friends have taken to keeping watch in the neighborhood, she said.

Eddie LeBlanc lives midway between the site of the fire on Buck Street and the one on Spiller Road.

“Sure we’re nervous,” he said. “Everybody with any kind of sense is nervous.”

It’s even more rattling that the fire-setter apparently is someone local, LeBlanc said.

“It’s somebody that knows the people, knows what’s abandoned, knows if somebody is not home,” he said.

Matt Laney, who also lives in the neighborhood, said he has seen his neighbors installing motion-activated security lights on their roof.

“It’s definitely a concern, but there’s nothing out of the ordinary that we’ve seen,” he said.

One woman said she has lived in the neighborhood for almost 40 years and has never been afraid in her home the way she is now — so worried that she didn’t want to give her name to a reporter, for fear of drawing attention to herself. She said she is keeping an eye on neighbors’ houses and they are keeping watch over hers.

“I’m scared,” she said.

Sunday’s fire not only destroyed Frederick’s two-car garage and his tools, but also a 1997 pickup truck that he and a friend were repairing. The charred truck was in the blackened remains of the building Monday.

The burning facade of the garage fell onto the back of Frederick’s 2001 Chevrolet S10 pickup, which he hadn’t even registered yet, he said.

“I’m violated,” said Frederick, angry at the ordeal and his loss.

Frederick said he was eating dinner at his grandmother’s home in Buxton when his friend called to say that his garage was on fire. He rushed home to check on his dog and cats in the house, and found they were OK.

On Monday, he and his grandfather were replacing a section of wire that had burned in the fire.

“I just want everything back to normal,” he said.

Staff Writer David Hench can be contacted at 791-6327 or at: dhench@pressherald.com