Arson suspect is of interest in other fires found intentionally set, state police say
Apr. 17—LEHIGH TWP. — A Gouldsboro man charged with setting fire to a vacant property near his home is considered a person of interest in other arsons last week in Lehigh Twp. and Jessup, state police said.
Police charged Michael Angelo Yzkanin on Sunday night with intentionally setting fire Friday to the former Gouldsboro Inn, 572 Main St., Lehigh Twp. The vacant property is approximately 240 feet from Yzkanin's home at 584 Main St., where there was also a fire early Sunday, state police said.
The Gouldsboro Inn fire, reported around 4:40 a.m., was one in a series of fires last week that plagued Lehigh Twp. and Jessup, all of which state police said Monday were ruled arson. Yzkanin, 30, has not been charged for setting any other fires. Investigations remained ongoing Monday.
In Gouldsboro, other fires ruled arson include:
—583 Main St., reported around 3 a.m. Wednesday. The home had been under renovation.
—573 Main St., reported around 2:18 p.m. Saturday. A person was seen fleeing the scene of this fire.
—584 Main St., reported around 6 a.m. Sunday. Trooper Nicholas DeSantis, a state police fire marshal, said a fire sparked in a stairwell leading into Yzkanin's basement.
In Jessup, fires ruled arson include:
—916 Church St., reported around 3 a.m. Friday. The fire destroyed the former Library Pizza restaurant, a Jessup landmark that has been closed for a few years. It was a pile of rubble Monday.
—609 4th Ave., reported around 10 p.m. Saturday. The fire, which fully engulfed the home under construction, spread to adjacent homes at 607 and 611 Fourth Ave., displacing seven people.
In Gouldsboro, five fires over five days put a small community on edge. Between Wednesday and Sunday, one house fire sprang up nearly every day within a radius of 300 feet.
Joseph Spott, a neighbor of Yzkanin, awoke before dawn Wednesday to "pop, pop, pop," he said. The window of a spare bedroom glowed orange. Outside, flames consumed 583 Main St., a vacant home across the street.
"It went up like a matchbox," said Spott, 66.
As he watched the former Gouldsboro Inn burn two days later, he thought: "Oh my God, not again. Not again." These were not coincidences, he suspected.
In Jessup, about 25 miles from Gouldsboro, flames consumed additional vacant properties.
At Sunday's 4th Avenue house fire, flames spread to adjacent structures, driving out the Marhevka and Barcheski families and badly damaging their homes. GoFundMe drives to assist the families raised $3,445 for the Barcheski family and $15,800 for the Marhevka family by 4:30 p.m. Monday.
Adam Barcheski, 35, surveyed the damage to his mother's home Monday. The Boyertown resident came here after the fire to help his family.
"I'm glad he was caught," Barcheski said of the accused arsonist.
For the blaze at the old Gouldsboro Inn, Yzkanin is charged with arson, reckless burning, causing a catastrophe, risking a catastrophe, failing to prevent a catastrophe and burglary. He is locked up at the Wayne County Correctional Facility in lieu of $250,000 bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled April 26 at 9 a.m.
DeSantis said Yzkanin's potential involvement in other fires is being examined because they bear similar characteristics. He also said they were examining other elements that may tie him to the fires, though he declined to elaborate on that Monday.
Spott, who has lived in Gouldsboro for more than 30 years, said Yzkanin overall struck him as an "OK" person. They clashed occasionally over snow removal from their shared driveway, but nothing more serious.
On Sunday evening, around the time the state police announced they brought criminal charges against Yzkanin, state troopers searched Yzkanin's home. A state trooper toting a camera took several photos of a grill in the rear of the building, Spott said.
"I was shocked," Spott said of his neighbor's arrest.
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