Arsonists Past and Present

In the summer of 1977, or thereabouts, it seemed we were running to Southview Drive in Oxon Hill, Maryland a couple of times a week. Each one was a fire of various size in storage rooms in the 3-story garden-style apartments.

I mention this because you could see the tension and the pain on the faces of the neighbors each time we showed up at the large apartment complex. It is the same thing I saw today, as I once again arrived, as a reporter, at one of the largest garden apartment complexes in the United States, Springhill Lake.

After a March series of electrical fires that caused heavy damage at 4 different buildings at the Greenbelt apartments, an arsonist began going to work in the very same area. There have been 8 fires since April 4th. The most recent one was Sunday night. You can see my story here.

What I learned from the anger of people dealing with the constant fear of having their belongings or themselves go up in smoke, is that whoever is setting the Springhill Lake fires better hope the fire investigators finds them first.

Here’s why. After weeks of running fires on Southview Drive, I pulled up on Truck 21 early one evening to find, once again, smoke coming out of the basement of one of the buildings. As we walked toward the fire, we saw a pile of people just to the right of the front door. Under that pile was a very bruised and bloody man screaming for help. The neighbors had caught the arsonist in the act. His name was Matthew Hamby and he was the maintenance man for the apartment complex. It looked like Hamby was somewhat happy to see us.