Police: Arson Suspected in Out-of-Service PA Ambulance Fire

Scranton police and fire inspectors are investigating suspected arson in a fire that destroyed an inoperable ambulance parked outside a Pennsylvania Ambulance facility Sunday night.

No one was injured in the fire, which was reported behind the Pennsylvania Ambulance building at 717 Capouse Ave. about 8:20 p.m., Fire Chief John Judge said.

"It was close to the building, but they (firefighters) were able to get it knocked down before it got anywhere towards the building," the chief said.

Inspectors have classified the fire as incendiary in nature and were reviewing surveillance video with city police, he said.

Judge said the ambulance charred in the fire is the same one that was stolen from Geisinger Community Medical Center almost three years ago by a woman who led police on a chase in the Midvalley before crashing the vehicle.

Since then, Pennsylvania Ambulance has been using the vehicle for spare parts, he said.

"They've been stripping parts from it," Judge said.

In the October 2018 incident, police charged a Shillington woman, Stephanie Schwambach, with stealing the ambulance from where it was parked at the GCMC.

Police later spotted the ambulance in Olyphant, but Schwambach did not stop when they tried to pull her over, instead leading officers on a tense pursuit that ended only when the vehicle hit a tree in Dickson City.

She later pleaded guilty to fleeing from police and other charges and was sentenced in 2019 to nine to 23 months in the Lackawanna County Prison, plus three years of probation, according to court records.

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