Reading Eagle
FLEETWOOD, Pa. — A probationary firefighter has been charged with arson in three separate fires in the Fleetwood area.
Borough police said Cody Weidner, 19, of Fleetwood set a fire Saturday night in Maxatawny Township and two fires in Fleetwood, one early Friday and the other in August.
Police zeroed in on Weidner after investigators learned he had been on duty with the Fleetwood Fire Company during two of the fires, and after conducting investigations into several other arsons that are still unsolved.
He was questioned after the fire Saturday at a property along Baldy Road in Maxatawny, and admitted to setting three fires, according to police paperwork.
Weidner was committed to Berks County Prison on Sunday in lieu of $100,000 bail on charges of arson, reckless burning, risking or causing a catastrophe and related offenses. He was arraigned by District Judge Thomas H. Xavios.
The arrest comes after suspicious fires have plagued the area since August, said John Manmiller, Fleetwood Fire Company chief.
In a statement, Manmiller said the fire company has been working with the police department.
Police said witness accounts, surveillance and other investigative efforts linked Weidner to the arsons. Other police departments and fire companies and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were involved in the investigation.
Detectives said they learned that Weidner spoke with the owner of the Baldy Road property, Lester Hoover, about 7:30 p.m. Saturday about allowing the fire company to burn down Hoover’s house for a training exercise.
As they parted ways, Weidner said the next time Hoover would see him, he would be in his firefighting gear, police said.
Just before 8 p.m., a 1,800-square-foot shed was engulfed in flames, extending to a nearby barn and resulting in a two-alarm fire that destroyed the shed and a tractor inside.
There was no damage estimate.
Manmiller said Weidner passed a mandatory background check before becoming a member of the department. He participated in training but wasn’t certified to go inside buildings as an interior firefighter.
Weidner has been suspended with the intent to dismiss, the chief said.
What drives some firefighters to arson is not easy to determine, said Robert Hauck, Kutztown Fire Company fire marshal.
“Some do it because they are lonely, some do it for attention, others do it as a call for help,” Hauck said.
Hauck is conducting the investigation of the Baldy Road blaze.
Weidner was also charged with setting fire to a garage along Wintergreen Alley on Friday, and torching a vacant house in the first block of West Washington Street on Aug. 8.
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