The Old Orchard Beach fire chief – who has worked previously at numerous fire departments in Maine and elsewhere in New England and the U.S. – was charged with arson early Saturday for allegedly setting the April 15 fire that burned 42 acres of the Jones Creek Marsh and forced the evacuation of a nearby condominium complex.
Fire Chief Ricky Plummer was arrested at 2 a.m. Saturday at his mother-in-law’s house in Scarborough. He was still being held Saturday night at the Cumberland County Jail in Portland. Bail was set at $10,000. Fires that took place in other towns where Plummer served as chief are also being investigated, a state official said.
A dozen investigators from the State Fire Marshal’s Office and the Maine Forest Service went to Old Orchard Beach on Friday afternoon with search warrants and seized computers at the fire station and in Plummer’s town-owned car, as well as his cellphone, according to Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety.