A Bangor man is accused of causing a fire in March while trying to steal copper pipes from a vacant house.
Phillip Lord, 43, was indicted Wednesday on one felony count each of arson, burglary and aggravated criminal mischief, as well as one misdemeanor count of criminal trespass in Penobscot County Superior Court.
An explosion and subsequent fire erupted in a vacant home around 5:45 a.m. on March 10, at 75 Fourth St. The Bangor fire and police departments, as well as state fire marshals, investigated the cause of the fire.
Inside the house, investigators found people were removing copper pipes from the basement, according to a probable cause affidavit. There was a small pile of cut copper pipes that were roughly a foot long, the affidavit said.
One cut pipe was going to the gas furnace, which is connected to two 100-gallon propane tanks. That line likely explained the gases that caused the fire, the affidavit said.
The fire was started after Lord cut the gas line and then turned on his drill or used a lighter to see in the dark basement, the affidavit said. The force of the explosion blew a large hole in a wall and also blew glass out of windows.
In the immediate aftermath of the fire, a witness told officials they helped a person who was dangling from a second-story window. Video footage captured a woman and man leaving the scene.
Lord was suspected to be with the woman because he had been with the woman in the past and had been on video, the affidavit said. Police found the woman and interviewed her and she told police she was in the house as Lord was removing copper pipe.
About an hour before the explosion, Lord told the woman they needed to shut off the gas. As the pair went to leave the house, Lord went back to the basement to grab a drill bit, she told police. Lord was using the light from the drill to see and a spark from that may have caused the explosion, she said.
She escaped the fire because the explosion blew a hole in the wall, she told police.
When police went to interview Lord, they found him at a State Street house where he rents a spare room and his landlord let them in, the affidavit said. Lord was in bed with a blanket covering his face, the affidavit said.
Once Lord lowered the blanket, police saw he had serious burns to his face, the affidavit said. Lord told police he was at the house, but was outside the backdoor, not inside.
A burned sweatshirt, a blue lighter torch and pieces of tin ceiling matching the Fourth Street house were found in Lord’s apartment, the affidavit said.
Lord has posted a $5,000 cash bail and is scheduled to appear in court Oct. 8.
