A former Conshohocken firefighter who went to prison 10 years ago for a string of arsons has confessed to setting a dozen fires in the last eight months in Montgomery and Chester Counties, authorities said yesterday.
Eric Watson, 35, of West Sixth Avenue in Conshohocken, is charged with torching homes under construction and detached garages, beginning in September. Bail was set at $1 million.
The fires caused an estimated $1.5 million in damage and injured a firefighter, according to the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office.
Watson, son of a firefighter, served six years in Conshohocken's Washington Fire Company before his arrest in 1994 in connection with nine arsons of garages and cars. In March 1995, he was sentenced to eight to 23 months in prison, followed by eight years of probation.
The investigation started when fire investigators and police saw a pattern in fires in Blue Bell, Conshohocken, King of Prussia, Plymouth Meeting, Valley Forge, West Conshohocken, West Norriton and Whitemarsh.
Many occurred at construction sites, and the arsonist used whatever was available - paint supplies, curtains, a car seat - for fuel, said Risa Ferman, Montgomery County's first assistant district attorney.
Watson, a laborer for a concrete company, may have made deliveries to the sites he is accused of burning, Ferman said.
In March, Plymouth Township Police Officer David Zinni - president of the Washington Fire Company and brother of Conshohocken Fire Chief Robert Zinni - noticed that Watson was turning up to watch the blazes, Ferman said.
Several police departments and county detectives obtained a court order to install a tracking device on Watson's Ford F-150 pickup truck, according to the criminal complaint. The device showed that Watson's truck had been at a Conshohocken garage 10 minutes before a fire was reported there Monday, according to court documents.
Watson confessed to the fires when detectives confronted him Tuesday morning, according to the complaint.
