Man charged with arson in 3 of 5 suspicious overnight fires in McKeesport

McKEESPORT, Pa. — Firefighters in McKeesport were called late Monday and early Tuesday to five separate fires, and a man has been charged in connection with three of them.

Channel 11's Steven Fisher reported that Harry Slava, 25, was arrested and charged with arson after admitting to setting fire to a boat tarp, a dumpster and a car.

According to a criminal complaint, Slava told police that “he left the bar, and while he walked home he started the fires for no real reason.”

The cause of two other fires, including one at a home on Sixth Street, remain under investigation, but are considered suspicious.

Flames were seen shooting from the roof of the Sixth Street home. Nobody was inside at the time, but a family of three lives there.

“She said someone purposely did that, but they said the doors were open, the back door and the front door,” Kimberly Bush, who lives next door, said. “I don’t understand why these people -- you know, the devil is just busy, and they don’t care about nobody’s life.”

The fire on Sixth Street was reported about 90 minutes after a fire on Beaver Street, the cause of which fire marshals believe was accidental.

Cox Media Group