Schuylkill County Man Allegedly Admits to Using WD-40, Torch to Start Shed Fire

A Schuylkill County man has been charged with arson after he allegedly admitted to police that he used WD-40 and a torch to light a shed on fire.

On July 5, shortly after 8:30 p.m., police in West Penn Township say they were dispatched to a home on West Penn Pike for a reported shed fire.

At the scene, police say they found a man – later identified as Eric Brubacker, 29 – standing in a grassy area on the south of the driveway at that residence. Brubacker was allegedly holding a plumber’s torch and there was a fully-involved shed on fire on the north side of the driveway.

Police first attempted to use a fire extinguisher to douse the flames but about 20 firefighters arrived on scene to put it out completely. In that time, fire had spread to surrounding brush and was moving toward an occupied home near Route 309.

Brubacker, who told police that he’d been living at this address for about two months, allegedly admitted to starting the fire. He told police that he planned to drag the shed to a burn pit but as he did that, it began to fall apart. That’s when he decided to just burn it.

Brubacker reportedly said he used some WD-40 and a torch to set the shed on fire.

Police say there was nothing nearby, like a garden hose, to help control the burn and that no fire officials or Schuylkill County 9-1-1 had any advanced notice that Brubacker would be conducting a controlled burn.

Brubacker is now facing felony charges of arson and risking catastrophe as well as misdemeanor offenses of possessing an instrument of crime and reckless endangerment.

He was arraigned before District Magistrate Judge James Reiley on the night of July 5 and released on $20,000 unsecured bail. A preliminary hearing before Judge AJ Serina has been scheduled for July 15.

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