After eight apartment-building residents barely escaped an early-morning fire that may have been the result of arson, it would seem that Pennsylvania police would be concerned about their safety and focused on catching the person responsible for starting the fire. That does not seem to be the case.

Instead, the primary concern of the Pennsylvania State Police appears to be the fact that four of the eight now-homeless residents are registered sex offenders. Under Megan's Law, they are required to update their residence information with police if they relocate for any reason. The law gives registered offenders 48 additional hours to re-register if a natural disaster (such as a fire) forces them to move. However, in the hours after the fire, police seemed to be primarily worried that the offenders will commit additional sex crimes unless their temporary addresses are made known.

The fire broke out around 2:00 a.m. last Wednesday in an apartment building in Harrisburg, police say. All eight residents managed to make it out of the building without injury, and they are now reportedly staying at local hotels.

When police investigated the fire, they noticed an excessive number of matches on the floor. In addition, the building's sprinkler system did not work, and the water valve in the basement had been turned off. They began to suspect that the fire had been the product of arson.

However, the apartment building has repeatedly been found in violation of several state and local fire codes, such as repairing the sprinkler system and re-certifying the fire extinguishers. Until those violations are corrected (which could take several weeks), the residents will be unable to move back in.

Source: ABC27, "Sex offenders displaced by suspicious fire," Chris Cekot, Aug. 25, 2011