Firefighter Charged with Arson in Colwyn Vehicle Fire
Police are investigating other fires after a Yeadon Fire Company firefighter has been accused of setting fire to a vehicle last week.
Police said Abner Roberts was using a garden hose to douse the SUV fire in Colwyn when they arrived last week.
"He left the scene, troopers later came by to interview him, and he admitted that he set fire to that vehicle," District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer told WPVI.com.
He was charged with arson, risking a catastrophe and reckless endangerment and was still in jail Monday night.
During their investigation, Roberts, 18, was determined to be a member of the Yeadon Fire Company.
"To voluntarily come forward and say, 'I want to be a firefighter,' and then we have to arrest him for having started a fire intentionally? And risking a catastrophe," Stollsteimer said.
Police are working to determine if Roberts was responsible for a fire that destroyed several trash cans just a few homes away, two days before.
"I hope it's not true," Mayor Maurice Clark told the television station. "For a stranger to come into Colwyn and start a fire, we don't need this kind of stuff in our borough."
