A group of teens committed at least 35 incidents of vandalism, arson and homemade explosive detonations over the last three months, the state fire marshal said.
Since Dec. 1, the suspects went from setting off soda bottle bombs and smashing mailboxes to making Molotov cocktails and setting fire to porches,said Joseph Zurolo, deputy state fire marshal
“We?re hoping that it?s not going to escalate,” Zurolo said.
The incidents include trash fires; fires at construction sites and a junkyard; a playground fire; gas cans set ablaze; grasses surrounding cable and telephone utility boxes set on fire; mailbox fires; and multiple homemade explosives, Zurolo said. Property damage from the fires has totaled about $5,000.
“No one?s been injured so far, and hopefully it will remain that way,” Zurolo said.
Most of the fires have been set in yards or in roadways. But two recent fires were on people?s porches, and another was set outside William S. James Elementary on Feb. 17.
Six incidents were reported last weekend.
The teens, authorities said, appeared to be striking within the Route 24/924 corridor, where the Sheriff?s Office has pledged to step up its visibility on weekends.
Most recently witnesses spotted a dark SUV with four or five teenage male passengers fleeing the area of a burning mailbox, not long after another mailbox stuffed with burning newspapers had been left on the front porch of a Bel Air home.
Jaime S. Doyle was at home with her 4-year-old child when a teen rang her doorbell before fleeing, as the fire blazed on her porch.
“I?m very scared right now,” she said. “Even though they?re saying it was random, it was too close to home.”
