Cops: 'Bored' Former Pa. Firefighters Set Blazes

May 15--Two firefighters with a former Fayette County fire department are accused of setting vacant houses ablaze so they could respond to the calls, according to criminal complaints.

Allison residents Ryan Michael Miciotto, 20, of 6 Raleigh St., and Justin Joseph Jordan, 21, of 109 Broadway St., are charged by Redstone Police with arson, criminal conspiracy, criminal mischief and disorderly conduct. Miciotto faces additional charges of possessing instruments of crime and incendiary devices.

In a criminal complaint, Sgt. Norman Howard said the men used a Molotov cocktail and a road flare to set fire to vacant houses at 56 Broadway St. and 233 Second St. in Allison on June 14, 2011.

At the time, the men were volunteer firefighters with the now-defunct Allison No. 1 fire department, according to the complaint.

An assistant fire chief, John Torok, told a state police fire marshal he suspected the pair were involved because they were already at the fire station, ready to respond, when the calls came in, Howard said in the complaint.

"He (Torok) responded straight to Allison No. 1 Fire Department and observed Miciotto and Jordan fully dressed in fire gear, seated within the truck, ready to go," Howard wrote.

Torok told police that Jordan had previously admitted to setting small fires in garbage cans and mattresses, and that the two had earlier remarked that they "wish the vacant house on Second Street would burn," Howard wrote in the complaint.

Other witnesses told police they overheard the two men talking about the vacant houses a day prior to the fires, with Miciotto remarking "he was surprised that the two vacant houses hadn't caught on fire yet."

One witness told police the men were "talking about how boring it was in the fire department and that they should light a house on fire so that they would get a call," according to the complaint.

Another witness told police Miciotto showed up at her house the morning of the fire and told her he "was bored and wanted to go to a fire call so he lit some houses on fire."

Miciotto told the witness, Christine Shaw, that he used a "Molotov cocktail" consisting of a gasoline-filled jar to set one fire and a road flare belonging to the fire department to spark the second fire, according to the complaint.

The two men are free on bond. They face preliminary hearings 3 p.m. May 20 before Redstone District Judge Mike Defino Jr.

Liz Zemba is a reporter with Trib Total Media. She can be reached at 412-601-2166 or [email protected].