By M. Drik Langeveld
The Morning Sentinel
PARIS, Maine — A volunteer firefighter admitted to investigators that he started a blaze that destroyed two vacant houses in the village of Locke Mills in Greenwood early Tuesday when he ignited a pile of dry leaves, according to an affidavit released Wednesday.
Jeffrey A. Tyler, 28, who served on the Greenwood Fire Department, has been charged with two counts of arson. He was taken to Androscoggin County Jail on Wednesday.
According to an affidavit by senior investigator Daniel L. Young of the State Fire Marshal’s Office, Tyler said he started a fire at the rear of a barn on the property at 238 Main St., owned by Bruce Connor of Chelmsford, Mass. Heat and windblown embers ignited the neighboring property at 236 Main St., owned by C. Mellen Kimball of Greenwood.
Young said he determined the cause of the fire to be near the rear of 238 Main St., and that Connor told Young he had shut off electrical power at the property a month ago.
Young suspected Tyler because a firefighter living one-tenth of a mile from the Greenwood fire station responded to the fire call within two minutes and saw Tyler arriving at the same time. Young said Tyler lives 1.2 miles from the station.
Young also spoke to Chief Michael Jodrey of the Bethel Fire Department. Young said Jodrey told him that there had been fires at the house of Tyler’s parents and barn, his trailer and several woods fires “where Tyler seemed to know exactly where they were.”
Tyler initially told investigators that he drove to the scene from his house, but he later admitted to being at the houses at Locke Mills. He said he was upset because his wife and 2-year-old daughter had visited family in Florida and he learned Sunday that they would not be returning to Maine.
Tyler said he went for a walk near the houses and ignited three dry maple leaves with his lighter before dropping them to the ground, where they ignited other leaves. He said the action was symbolic to represent him, his wife and his daughter and “the two that landed together or nearest his daughter’s leaf would be where his daughter should be.”
Tyler told investigators that a 6- to 8-foot section of dry leaves under and against the barn was burning when he left, and he did not report the fire. He said he drove home and later drove back along Route 26 when he heard the fire call on his pager, at which point he went to the fire station. Tyler denied being under the influence of drugs or alcohol and said he did not set the fire so he could respond as a firefighter.
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