Penn Hills Junior Firefighter Accused In At Least 3 Suspicious Fires
PENN HILLS (KDKA) – A junior firefighter is facing arson charges after allegedly setting at least three suspicious fires in Penn Hills.
According to Penn Hills Fire Marshal Chuck Miller, the 17-year-old was a volunteer at Station 6 on Main Street. He turned himself in on Friday, facing an arson charge and several others.
"I knew there was a fire bug in that district, but I didn't know who," Miller said.
Miller said it started in June with a dumpster fire off of Frey Road. It was set on fire twice in one week.
"I started tracking these small garbage fires, dumpster fires, piles of furniture, stacks of palates, pavilions, stuff like that," Miller said. "And I started noticing trends."
The fire marshal says there have been ten suspicious fires in the area and at this point, they've connected the teenager to three.
In addition to the dumpster fire, Miller says he believes the teen was behind the fire at Pennalco, where a stack of palates were set on fire in the yard. Pennalco is within view of Station 6. The third fire linked to the volunteer was a pile of trash on Stotler Street. The flames were so high, they burned the leaves on a tree.
"There were a few that were close to homes and scared those people and, rightfully, they should be scared," Miller said.
At this point, there are seven other suspicious fires that are still under investigation. The teen has not been charged in those.
"The investigation is ongoing," Miller said. "We're trying to find out if there's others involved, who they are, and go forward with that."
Miller says he was disturbed by what he found through the investigation, but happy they caught it early before it escalated to something more.
"It's sickening because you take an oath as a firefighter to protect the public and to put fires out, not to set fires and cause panic," Miller said.
"This one person does not represent the entire Penn Hills fire service as a whole," Miller added.
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