Pa. Firefighters Accused of Arson Were First to Station
Source The Daily Item, Sunbury, Pa.
DANVILLE, Pa. -- Two volunteer firefighters cast suspicion on themselves by consistently showing up at the Potts Grove fire station just as fire alarms were sounding, a fire marshal said Monday.
"They were seen at the fire station when pagers and alarms were still ringing, and they lived a distance from the fire company," state police fire marshal Norman Fedder said.
The suspects, Zane Patrick Snyder, 19, of 948 Sodom Road, Milton, and Charles William Jacobs, 35, of 119 N. Fifth St. , Lewisburg, admitted setting a series of seven fires from Jan. 2 through March 16 when questioned, Fedder said.
On Monday, Fedder filed three new sets of arson and arson-related charges against Snyder and Jacobs, and said he expects to file at least three more sets in connection with fires in East and West Chillisquaque townships in Northumberland County.
False alarms, too
Another trooper is expected to charge Snyder with calling in false alarms to the 911 center in Union County, which dispatches the Potts Grove Fire Company.
Montour County District Judge Marvin Shrawder arraigned Snyder and Jacobs on the new charges. He set bail on each of the sets of three at $25,000. Snyder and Jacobs were returned to the Montour County Jail. Their preliminary hearings are now scheduled for 1 p.m. May 2.
Shrawder gave the men applications to complete for a public defender as he did at their first arraignment on charges of torching an abandoned home Jan. 12 on Kelly's Dam Road in Liberty Township.
The Feb. 12 fire damaged an unoccupied barn at 255 Potts Grove Road in Liberty Township. Snyder and Jacobs were each charged with three counts of arson and related offenses, burglary, causing or risking catastrophe, criminal mischief and recklessly endangering another person.
The two were driving around Liberty Township "looking for a target to burn," police said. Snyder said he knew of a barn. They drove past the barn three times and then drove to the Potts Grove Fire Company, where they took flares and returned to the barn.
Flares used as igniters
Jacobs walked inside the barn and used a flare to set hay on fire. Snyder placed a flare between several bales of hay outside the barn, police said. By the time they made their way back to the fire station, their pagers were going off. They jumped on a fire engine and responded to the fire, which caused $84,914 in damage.
They allegedly set two fires March 16. The first was at 6:55 p.m. in a field along Center Road in Liberty Township. They were charged with three counts of arson and related offenses, including reckless burning, causing or risking catastrophe and recklessly endangering another person.
An easy fire
Police allege the two talked about setting an easy fire.
They agreed to burn a field, charges said. Snyder used a lighter to ignite dried grass on an embankment. The fire spread through the dried grass and eventually covered five acres. Damage was estimated at more than $5,000.
They allegedly set a blaze at 11:22 p.m. March 16 at an unoccupied home on Smith Road at Kelly's Dam Road in Liberty Township.
Fedder charged each with three counts of arson and related offenses, causing or risking catastrophe, criminal mischief and recklessly endangering another person.
The fire caused $10,000 in damage.
They filled a plastic Diet Pepsi bottle with gas at the fire company and stuffed newspaper into the opening to act as a wick, Fedder said. They drove to the home and placed the incendiary device at the southwest corner of the house, where the main structure met the front porch. They lighted the wick and fled.
They stopped in Milton and then headed east on Mexico Road until they could see the fire.
Jacobs drove them to the fire company, where their pagers were sounding as they arrived, and they responded to the call with other firefighters, Fedder said.
Copyright 2012 - The Daily Item, Sunbury, Pa.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
