By JOHN STITH
The Post-Standard (Syracuse, New York)
State police have arrested a five-year veteran of the Fleming Fire Company and accused him of setting a blaze April 14 that damaged the Fleming No.1 firehouse on West Lake Road.
Peter D. Lewis, 28, of 13 Myrtle Ave., Auburn, was arrested Thursday at the state police barracks in Aurelius and charged with third-degree arson and fourth-degree criminal mischief.
Lewis was arraigned in Fleming Town Court, where Justice David Wawrzaszek set bail at $10,000 cash or $20,000 bond. He was being held at the county jail in Sennett.
Lewis is secretary for the Fleming Fire Company, which provides fire coverage under contract with the town. John Sheftic, president of the volunteer fire company, said Lewis has been placed on administrative leave.
“It’s like anything else,” Sheftic said. “You’re innocent until proven guilty.”
Fire company members will wait until after the case is concluded in court to decide whether Lewis remains in the company, Sheftic said.
“We have had no contact with him since the day of the fire,” he said.
State police Investigator Ed Charles said Lewis became the focus of the investigation after a series of interviews.
Sheftic said news of the arrest is still sinking in for firefighters.
“It would be no different if your son went out and started your house on fire,” he said. “It’s family up here. You’re a family, and somebody does that in your own house, you just don’t believe it. You wonder what brought it on.
“There’s two sides to it,” he continued. “He was friends with a lot of people. People are worried, but they’re also upset because of the nature of what he did.”
Charles said Lewis was going through some personal problems, but did not elaborate further.
Lewis was the first firefighter at the scene after the fire was reported, and he was the only firefighter injured, suffering smoke inhalation while moving a firetruck out of the building.
The Cayuga County 911 center received the call about the fire at 4:46 a.m., and the fire, in a basement storage/laundry room, was extinguished quickly. Charles said Lewis reported the fire to the 911 center.
Lewis told investigators he started the fire and later felt guilty about what he had done, Charles said. The firefighter returned to the firehouse to extinguish the blaze, and that’s when he was overcome by smoke, the investigator said.
Charles said Lewis also was responsible for smashing the windows of two vehicles parked behind the fire station. The vehicles, a bus and a station wagon, had been donated to the fire department for training exercises. The criminal mischief charge was filed in connection with the smashed windows.
Fire Chief Bill Breck said on the day of the fire that the blaze damaged the building’s electrical unit, melted some of the PVC piping used in the plumbing, and damaged the commercial-grade washing machine firefighters used to clean their turnout gear.
Sheftic said the fire company, which owns the firehouse and equipment, has not received the report from fire investigators or an insurance estimate for the damage.