OLD ORCHARD BEACH — Fire Chief Ricky Plummer, charged with arson, was caught on the surveillance cameras of a motel near the April 15 fire that burned 42 acres of marsh, according to a court affidavit.
Investigators say Plummer set the fire, but the chief says it was an accident.
Police say the tape shows the chief’s SUV pulling behind the building, parking, and a man in dark clothing getting out and heading into the woods for 25 minutes.
In the affidavit, investigators say they’re sure that man is the fire chief.
Friendship Oceanside Suites Manager Tom Schilling says a surveillance camera points right across East Grand Avenue.
“So they came over and we checked them and sure as could be it was right there,” Schilling said.
The video shows a black SUV with a logo parking behind a vacant summer home, and then a man in dark clothes walking toward the railroad tracks.
“Twenty minutes later [he] comes walking out of the woods with a little bit more of a hop in his step, jumps in his car headed back down toward Scarborough,” Schilling said.
Investigators describe the same video in an affidavit filed by the Maine Forest Service, and say they’re sure the man is Plummer, based on his gait and appearance. The affidavit states Plummer was wearing similar dark clothes when he went to fight the April 15 fire that burned 42 acres of marsh and woodland.
Court documents say Plummer told investigators he is responsible but denied intentionally starting the fire, claiming he went out to the marsh for peace and to smoke a cigarette. According to the affidavit, he said he “Threw the matches on the ground and then the cigarette on the ground in chest high dry cattails.” In the court documents, Plummer told police he knew better than to do something like that.
Schilling says the fire that could have caused a lot of damage.
“I go over there with my two little boys and play all the time and it would be devastating if the woods weren’t over there,” Schilling said.
The investigation continues. Authorities are looking into seven other cities and towns where Plummer worked.
He is not allowed in Old Orchard Beach.