Reading Eagle
READING, Pa. — State lawmakers are touting a new law that offers harsher punishment for arson.
Sen. John C. Rafferty Jr., a Montgomery County Republican who represents part of Berks, sponsored the law after more than 30 fires were deliberately set in Coatesville in 2008 and 2009.
The fires in Chester County caused over $3 million in damage, leaving people homeless and resulting in the death of an 83-year-old woman who was a Holocaust survivor.
The law creates a new class of crime known as aggravated arson, and sets tougher sentencing guidelines.
“Arson fire prior to this was mostly an insurance problem,” Rafferty said. “This law recognizes arson for the deadly crime it is.”
A suspect can be charged with aggravated arson if he deliberately sets a fire, or pays someone to set a fire, with the intent of causing bodily injury, or if it’s known someone is inside the property.
Rafferty, Chester County District Attorney Thomas P. Hogan, Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, first responders, and survivors of the Coatesville arsons gathered at the Thorndale Fire Company on Wednesday.
“Their whole lives had gone up in smoke,” Rafferty said of the arson victims. “It really impacted me - the horror of going to sleep at night safe and sound and being awakened with flames engulfing your house.”
The legislation increases penalties if arson injures a first responder. Stronger sentences could be imposed if more than three people were inside a home in an arson.
The law states that a convicted arsonist could be charged with second-degree murder if the fire unintentionally resulted in a person’s death and first-degree murder if it was intentional.
“We saw what was happening in Coatesville,” Rafferty said. “We made this personal.”
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