NEW BERLIN – A New Berlin man has been arrested for lighting a Monday night fire at the home where he lived with his parents, sister and brother-in-law.
New York State Police arrested Jeffrey “Yogi” Maxson, 44, of New Berlin Tuesday and charged him with second degree arson, a class B felony.
Chenango County Fire Coordinator Matthew Beckwith said crews responding to the scene were hampered in their efforts to fight the fire by Maxson, describing him as “intoxicated and belligerent.”
New Berlin Fire Department Chief Shawn Patrick was the first firefighter on the scene at 11:40 p.m. Monday, and drove to the family’s one story home at 5156 state Route 8 in his own vehicle.
“There was heavy fire coming from the northern half of the trailer, coming through the windows. When I actually called it in, I reported it was fully involved,” said Patrick.
New York State Police Investigator Jason Besset said Maxson was in the home with two other relatives when the fire began and said alcohol may have been a factor in the incident. He said Maxson’s parents, the homeowners, were not at home when the fire started.
Besset said Maxson, who is unemployed, had been living at the home for the last three weeks.
Beckwith said the other two relatives fled to a nearby neighbor’s house to call 911, but found no one at home. They then ran down the road to another neighbor’s house and placed the call. Both Beckwith and Patrick estimated that the home burned for about 10 to 15 minutes before emergency officials got there.
Upon arriving on the scene, Patrick said Maxson was yelling and interfering with crews as two New Berlin teams entered the home to quell the blaze. He also noted that “these situations tend to be traumatic for people and emotions run high; it’s not that uncommon to have some people yelling and screaming,” he said.
Beckwith said crews ordered Maxson to leave the scene and he was escorted off the property by family members.
“At the time we asked him to leave, we had not began our investigation into the cause. They we’re just trying to put out the fire and make sure no one was hurt. Later as we developed what took place, we realized this was not an ordinary fire and fire investigators contacted police,” said Beckwith.
The fire claimed the life of the family’s German Shepherd, destroyed the home and all its contents, reported Besset.
“I give a lot of credit to the New Berlin fire teams for knocking the fire down so quickly. The home was gutted, but really I was surprised it was still standing at all,” said Beckwith. “The fact they were able to stop it from completely destroying all the material parts of the house I’m sure helped to make the job of piecing things back together easier for the fire and police investigators.”
Patrick said more than 40 firemen were on scene, including the New Berlin, South New Berlin, West Edmeston and Pittsfield fire departments.
Beckwith said as investigators began looking into the cause of the fire, they believed the origin was in Maxson’s bedroom, with no clear sign of what ignited the blaze.
“It looks like a pile of clothes were set on fire and it also became clear in our investigation that there was a domestic dispute of some kind,” said Beckwith.
Besset would not comment on how the fire was specifically started or on motive, but did say Maxson had made an “oral admission” to police regarding the incident.
Maxson is scheduled to appear at 1 p.m. Thursday in Town of Oxford Court.
Fire crews stayed at the scene for 11 hours as police and fire officials investigated the incident, said Patrick.