Md. Neighborhood Reflects on Arson Awareness Week

May 05--Residents of a Frederick neighborhood have taken the fight against arson into their own hands as they continue to recover from a rash of fires set nearly two years ago.

"We still look out of the window a lot more," said Thomas Zufall, of West Eighth Street. "Everyone on the street was really on pins and needles."

Zufall was one of six victims targeted by an arsonist in 2011. He was asleep when his next-door neighbor alerted him to a fire burning on his property.

A homeless man, Jason Edward Fauble, was sentenced to 27 years in prison for setting that fire and others.

Since then, residents have installed security systems, motion detectors and light timers. It's all part of their effort to be proactive, Zufall said Friday.

Reducing residential arson

State Fire Marshal William E. Barnard encourages communities to follow the Frederick neighborhood's lead.

Today marks the beginning of National Arson Awareness Week, and this year's theme is reducing residential arson. Motives for torching homes include curiosity, vandalism, excitement, revenge, insurance fraud and concealing another crime, according to a news release from the fire marshal's office.

"Marylanders need to be proactive in the communities they reside," Barnard said in a statement. "Members in the neighborhood should actively communicate with each other and local authorities to help deter these heinous crimes."

For the first time in six years, arson offenses are up nationwide, according to preliminary data from the 2012 FBI Uniformed Crime Report. The number of arson offenses increased 3.2 percent in the first six months of 2012 when compared with figures from the same period in 2011.

'Do the right thing'

At least one significant serial arson case has already been reported in the county this year. Charges were filed in April after a series of suspicious fires in Frederick and Washington counties.

Eight Pennsylvania and Maryland residents have been charged in the case.

The group has been linked to eight Frederick County fires set in trash containers, the front porch of a vacant house, a couch left on a roadside and a barn in the Middletown area that was not seriously damaged, according to Mike Dmuchowski, spokesman for the county's Division of Fire and Rescue Services.

Gretchen A. Rezash, of Fayetteville, Pa., said her daughter and grandchildren, who live in Boonsboro, were victims of the recent arson spree.

Rezash wrote a letter to The Frederick News-Post on April 11, expressing the family's grief.

"I really pray we can call it victim justice ... not criminal justice, and that the State Prosecutors, Judges and/or juries will do the right thing and, if found guilty, they are appropriately punished," Rezash wrote.

In 2011, 53 cases of arson were reported in Frederick County. In the same year, the state reported more than 1,400 cases of arson, according to the Maryland 2011 Uniform Crime Report.

Statewide and county statistics for 2012 have not been released, but rescue crews responded to at least one significant arson fire in 2012, according to News-Post archives.

In November, a car fire was reported near the Travelodge on Monocacy Boulevard. Firefighters with United Steam Fire Engine Co. extinguished the blaze in about 10 minutes, but the 2008 Nissan Maxima was totaled. Investigators determined the fire was set intentionally.

Follow Cara R. Anthony on Twitter @CaraRAnthony.