By Ted Czech
The Evening Sun
NEW SALEM, Pa. — A mother and son, both firefighters with York New Salem’s Community Fire Co., told police they were bored while hanging out at the fire hall and decided to start a fire after they went for a drive Sunday, police said.
That fire led police to charge the son in two other arsons, both in 2007.
Early Monday morning, as a portable toilet on Brillhart Station and Days Mill roads burned, York Area Regional Police Officer Trent Buschman noticed “three suspicious persons,” according to a police news release.
Michael Phillips Garrett, 18, and his mother, Lisa Garrett, 47, both of Eldine Avenue in New Salem, along with a 14-year-old boy — who police said was also a volunteer firefighter — were arrested just after midnight Monday as they watched firefighters put out the blaze, the news release states.
Police said that, as the Garretts and the boy drove around York County, “the idea of setting something on fire was brought up.”
Lisa Garrett drove to the parking lot, and Michael Garrett and the boy started three fires inside the portable toilet, using toilet paper and trash from a nearby trash can, according to the news release.
State police and York Area Regional police followed up on the fire and found that Michael Garrett — along with two juveniles — set two other fires last year, the news release states.
The Garretts have been suspended from the fire company, C.R. Lloyd, mayor of New Salem and deputy chief with Community Fire Company, said Thursday.
“I know the community will be devastated” at the news of the arrests, he said.
“It’s not an easy thing - a lot of fire companies have al ready gone through this,” he said. “I was hoping it wouldn’t be us.”
He said the Garretts joined about a year ago and were to be on probation until they finished fire school. But mother and son dropped out in the fall, Lloyd said.
“They were going to go back this spring,” he said. “We thought maybe they were going to do a good job.”
Wednesday, state police interviewed Michael Garrett, who told them that, on Sept. 8, he lit an old rag with a lighter, then threw the rag into a truck parked in the 3800 block of Old Joseph Road in North Codorus Township, according to charging documents.
The rag set the truck and items inside it on fire, the documents state.
Garrett also told police about a 14-year-old boy’s role in the fire, although charging documents did not give further details.
The fire caused $6,000 in damage, charging documents state.
In addition, police charged Michael Garrett and a 17-year-old New Oxford boy with setting fire to Eyster’s Machine and Wire Products, which was then in the first block of Church Street in Seven Valleys.
The Feb. 10, 2007, fire caused about $800,000 in damage, according to a state police news release.
Business owner Glenn Eyster Jr. said Thursday he “always hoped” police would make an arrest in the fire and that he had tried to be patient during the past year.
“It’s not an easy task,” he said of the police’s investigation. “As in a lot of fires, the evidence burns up with the fire... They take the small bits and go from there.”
Eyster, a former New Salem resident and a former fire company volunteer, said people should not be critical of the fire company because of the Garretts’ arrests.
“To say the department could’ve been more careful... you just can’t tell always who you’re around.”
He said firefighters were very helpful to him during his fire.
“The fire department worked very well in their efforts to save the machinery,” he said. “They did a tremendous job. Without them, I would’ve lost a whole lot more.”