Arnold, New Kensington residents express shock that volunteer firefighter is suspect in arsons

Relief that a suspected arsonist in the Arnold and New Kensington area had been captured was tempered with shock that he was a volunteer firefighter and concern that one of the houses he is accused of setting ablaze was his grandmother’s home.

“I can’t believe it was her own grandson. That’s crazy,” said Lana Glena, who lives on Leishman Avenue next to 1557 Leishman Ave., which state police say was the fourth and final house that Andrew J. Bischof, 21, set on fire over the weekend.

The elderly woman, who wasn’t home at the time of the fire, has been having a hard time since her husband died in 2021 and is in poor health, Glena said.

The fire at 1557 Leishman was reported around 9:40 p.m. Sunday. The fire was started in the area of a back deck and extended inside, state police said in a criminal complaint against Bischof.

The house was boarded up Thursday. It was the only one of the four burned buildings that was not an abandoned home.

Bischof and his vehicle, a black Ford Escape, were seen on surveillance videos at or near the scene of each fire before they were reported, state police said.

The first fire at 1520 Fourth Ave. in Arnold was reported at 10:34 a.m. Saturday; the second, 1240 Leishman Ave. in New Kensington, at 10:56 p.m. Saturday; and the third, at 1743 Leishman Ave. in Arnold, at 1:16 p.m. Sunday.

The house at 1743 Leishman is a door down from Bischof’s address at 1737 Leishman. Bischof returned with other Arnold firefighters to battle the blaze there and at his grandmother’s home, state police said in court paperwork.

Ed Taylor lives across from 1520 Fourth Ave., the site of the first fire. Bischof was at that fire scene, too, unspooling hose from a truck and handing out air bottles to firefighters, Taylor said Thursday.

He counted 17 firetrucks that morning.

“He seemed strange,” Taylor said, explaining he was referring to Bischof’s demeanor. “He was right here the whole time. I was watching him the most. He was the closest to me.”

Firefighters told Taylor the blaze was unusual because flames were shooting out of the building “like a furnace” instead of rolling, he said. He described the smoke as similar to a fog so thick that he couldn’t see a multi-unit building across the street.

Stephanie Allen, who lives in that three-unit building on Fourth Avenue, didn’t know that a firefighter is accused of setting the fires. She called the whole thing ridiculous.

“Somebody could have gotten hurt,” she said.

Kristen Drum, who lives across from the second house at 1240 Leishman in New Kensington, has similar feelings.

“Hopefully, he gets some mental help,” she said.

Drum slept through the fire Saturday night while next door at her sister’s house. She hopes something will be done with the empty house across the street.

“It’s a disgusting house,” she said. “I hope they’ll knock it down so it won’t be a hazard.”

In the fire at Bischof’s grandmother’s home, an Arnold firefighter, who state police identified as Thomas Cooper, was hurt when the rear deck collapsed. He was taken to a hospital for evaluation.

Glena put a garden hose on the fire.

“We tried to put the back porch out as much as we could,” she said.

Glena saw the deck wobbling, and the firefighter went right through it, she said. She heard others scream out, “Man down!”

“I have three babies, three little ones,” she said. “I don’t want to be put through that.”

Glena was glad a suspect was caught.

“It’s sad to say, but maybe he just needs help,” she said.

Longtime neighbor Kenneth Grabowski helped retrieve personal belongings from the woman’s house, including her late husband’s Navy uniform and a flag.

“It’s very sad to see a family go through this. They’re wonderful people,” he said. “My heart goes out to the entire Bischof family.”