UPDATED: Search warrant served at Prince George’s County firehouse. Sources say federal & local investigators are looking for evidence of arson ring.
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Read original story from April 20
Read follow-up story from April 21
Read May 4 and April 21 statements from Riverdale VFD officials
Watch Scott Broom’s 7:00 PM report (or here)
STATter911.com has learned that Prince George’s County fire investigators and ATF agents showed up at the Riverdale Volunteer Fire Department (PGFD Station 807) during the noon hour today. We are told by sources familiar with the investigation a sealed search warrant was served. 9NEWS NOW reporter Scott Broom, on the scene, reports the investigators searched the firehouse and were loading material into vehicles parked in the apparatus bays.
According to the sources, investigators were looking for evidence of a possible firefighter arson ring operating in the county. As STATter911.com was first to report on April 20, the Prince George’s County Fire/EMS Department received claims that volunteer firefighters had been setting fires in vacant homes. Officials, so far, have not announced any arrests in the case.
Since the story broke, PGFD’s only official statement acknowledges an investigation is underway into suspicious fires in six homes that have burned since January. The department has released no information indicating there are firefighters in the county suspected of arson.
At Riverdale VFD, Chief Charles Ryan III and President Stephen Lamphier issued a joint statement Monday evening that says in part:
The department continues to cooperate with the investigation into arson allegations that have been publicized recently. In doing so, investigators were unimpeded in their execution of a sealed search warrant on the premises of the Riverdale Fire Department.
As this continues to be a law-enforcement related personnel matter, The Riverdale Fire Department, Inc. cannot comment on any details. The department’s members and officers continue to cooperate 100% with the investigation to ensure an expeditious and accurate resolution to these allegations.
Sources confirm that a handful of volunteers remain operationally suspended from Riverdale VFD and at least one other station in the county. One of the Riverdale volunteers suspended is also a career firefighter in neighboring Montgomery County. Investigators from the Montgomery County Fire & Rescue Service are part of the investigative team.
According to sources, some of the targeted firefighters are live-in members at Riverdale. The warrant allowed the investigators to go through the firehouse looking for possible evidence connected to those individuals and the series of fires.
Because it involves a sealed warrant, PGFD Chief Spokesman Mark Brady said Monday afternoon that he is not at liberty to talk about the activity.
The investigators completed their work shortly after 5:00 PM. According to sources, the volunteer crew at the station left the firehouse with Tower 807 and Ambulance 807 shortly after the investigators arrived and remained on-the-air available for calls until they left.
