A volunteer firefighter told police he was depressed when he lit a fire in his Elizabeth Township home, according to charges filed against him by Allegheny County police.
Police on Monday charged Jeremy Zink, 26, with multiple counts of arson and recklessly endangering another person in connection with the Dec. 14 fire at a two-story home on Weigles Hill Road.
Zink told investigators he is a county 911 dispatcher and volunteer firefighter at the Blaine Hill Volunteer Fire Company in Elizabeth Township, according to the criminal complaint.
Blaine Hill suspended Zink in December for "personal issues," fire Chief Brian Mason said.
Zink was hired as a part-time telecommunications officer by Allegheny County in November 2010, county spokeswoman Amie Downs said. He has been suspended without pay.
Zink first said he drove his cousin to the Forward Township Volunteer Fire Department, went to a dollar store and then went to his stepmother's home the night of the fire, the complaint said.
Eventually, he admitted to investigators during an interview at county police headquarters in Point Breeze that he stopped at his home that night, where he "became depressed," the complaint said.
Zink said he used his stove to light a pizza box on fire, and then dropped it on the hardwood floor to stomp it out, the complaint said. He took the box to the bathtub to pour water over it, but the water had been turned off in the home, so he placed a five-gallon white bucket over the burning box to snuff it out, the complaint said.
Zink told investigators he assumed the fire was completely extinguished, the complaint said.
The complaint accuses Zink of endangering the firefighters from Blaine Hill and Forward and Elizabeth Township police officers who responded to the fire.
Zink is lodged in the county jail on $100,000 bond.
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