A D.C. man was sentenced to 25 years in prison in prison for setting a series of house fires, inclucing one that seriously injured four firefighters.
Maurice Dews, 27, pleaded guilty in November to five counts of arson, and four counts of aggravated assault while armed stemming from a April 2011 fire that critically injured a D.C. firefighter and seriously injured three others, prosecutors said.
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Dews started at least five fires in the District between January 2008 and June 2011, and three fires in Prince George’s County. After setting the fires ablaze, he often called 911 himself to report the fires.
Authorities said Dew would take photos and videotaping the fires, and he once told fire officials that he was a volunteer firefighter in Bladensburg, although that was determined to be untrue.
Investigators arrested Dews in July after investigating an overnight fire across from the one three months earlier that put several firefighters in the hospital, including D.C. firefighter and Riverdale Volunteer Fire Chief Charles Ryan III, who suffered second- and third-degree burns to about 40 percent of his body.
