SYKESVILLE, Md. — He lives on a ridge within eyeshot of the Liberty Reservoir, and Tom Reichelderfer had no idea someone had intentionally set two separate fires just down the hill from his home last year.
“It worries me, because if the fire gets away, it can set everything on fire including the houses around here,” said Reichelderfer.
In March of last year, a Baltimore Environmental Police officer spotted a woman he recognized coming out of the woods near the Liberty Reservoir and then spotted smoke and found a brush fire a few moments later that firefighters extinguished.
Two additional fires would follow in May and June before investigators determined 20-year-old Allison Creutzer was allegedly responsible.
“At the time she was allegedly setting these fires, she was a member of the Sykesville-Freedom District Fire Department,” said Sr. Dep. State Fire Marshal Oliver Alkire, “When our investigators contacted their chief, he immediately started working with us.”
According to charging documents, the suspect admitted to setting the first fire, but blamed her boyfriend for setting the others and he worked at another volunteer fire department in the county.
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Through phone records and eyewitness sightings of her vehicle, her efforts to shift the blame failed, but the question remains over what she had hoped to accomplish.
“While we don’t want to jump ahead to any particular conclusion on this, we do have to look at exactly, possibly what motive,” said Alkire, “Is it a hero situation? Is it attention seeking?”
It certainly has grabbed homeowners’ attention near the hot zones, the their concerns extend well beyond any motive for setting them.
“She needs help. Lots of help, and it worries me—-the hiring process,” said Reichelderfer, “Some of these are volunteer fire companies, but you need to screen people well.”
