DANVILLE, Wis. -- Two members of the Potts Grove Fire Department were charged Monday night with arson and related counts involving the Jan. 12 fire in an abandoned home on Kelly's Dam Road in Liberty Township, Montour County.
State police also told District Judge Marvin Shrawder that Charles William Jacobs, 35, of 118 N. Fifth Street, Lewisburg, and Zane Patrick Snyder, 19, of 948 Sodom Road, Milton, would soon be charged with setting three other fires in Montour County, two arsons and an attempted arson in Northumberland County and with making five false reports in Union County.
The Montour arsons were a barn fire, a field fire and a structure fire; the Northumberland County fires were a vehicle fire and a barn fire. The attempted arson would have been a structure fire. The exact locations of these fires were not revealed at Monday night's arraignment.
Jacobs and Snyder were each charged with felony 1 arson and related charges, for which they could face up to 20 years in prison and fines; Burglary, a felony 1 grade, which carries up to a 20-year sentence; felony 2 arson and related charges, each carrying up to 10 years in prison plus fines; felony 3s of causing or risking catastrophe and causing or risking mischief; and recklessly endangering another person, a misdemeanor.
Police said Jacobs and Snyder would face similar charges in the 11 other incidents.
In describing the Kelly's Dam Road arson, Jacobs and Snyder decided they wanted to start a fire, police said. Police said they drove to the Potts Grove Fire Department, where they both are active members, and took a flare from the company and drove around Potts Grove and Liberty Township, looking for a place to burn.
They eventually found a home that was for sale. They stopped and knocked at the front door to see if anyone was home.
The house was empty.
So they broke a window, climbed inside and set fire to a pile of clothes and some abandoned cardboard boxes, state police said.
But the fire didn't take to their liking, police said.
So they drove back to the fire department and filled two plastic bottles with gasoline, went back inside the structure and poured gasoline all over the house, according to arrest documents.
Then they left the scene and joined their colleagues at the Potts Grove Fire Department when they were called upon to help put out the fire that they had started, police said.
Police said that Jacobs and Snyder were later interviewed by police and admitted their involvement in the fires.
"You put responding fire department personnel, as well as the public at risk," Shrawder told them.
When it came time to set bail, Shrawder said, "I'm very concerned about this and the other number of charges about to be filed and the nature of the charges. You put a lot of people in danger. You are a threat to society."
He then set a $250,000 straight bail for both men, which neither posted.
Copyright 2012 - The Daily Item, Sunbury, Pa.
