LEWISTON – Two people were indicted on arson charges Wednesday including a woman accused of setting fire to a church and a man accused of starting a fire at the home of a neighbor.

A dog was credited for discovering one of the blazes and a burned football was discovered as evidence against the suspect.

Kimberly Miranda, 44, of 128 Horton St., was charged by an Androscoggin County grand jury with setting fire to the Lighthouse Baptist Church on Lincoln Street in September.

Police said Miranda set the back of the church on fire by splashing gasoline on the building and then lighting it. When she was found a short distance from the fire scene, police said she was carrying a backpack with a can of gas inside.

Nobody was hurt in the 6 a.m. blaze at 39 Lincoln St. A group of neighbors attacked the flames with water from garden hoses before the fire department arrived to subdue the fire, according to a police affidavit.

A man who lives near the church said that moments before the fire started, he saw a person standing between the church and another building. He said the person was moving her hands from side to side, as if spreading something.

Police later found Miranda, who fit the description provided by the witness, at Locust and Canal streets. The officer who located her said Miranda smelled of gasoline. She was arrested and taken to the Androscoggin County Jail, where she remained on Wednesday.

No motive for the church fire was listed in the police affidavit. Miranda’s lawyer, Donald Hornblower, has asked that his client be evaluated to determine her mental state.

Dog discovers fire

Also indicted on a charge of arson was 31-year-old John Pietila, of 28 Drew St. Police say Pietila poured lighter fluid on a neighbor’s house and then lit it on Sept. 21.

In that fire, at 38 Drew St., a dog was credited with discovering the fire before it engulfed the home.

Police said the man who lives at that address was sitting on his front steps, watching his dog roam the yard, when the animal went to the back of the house and began acting strangely. When the man went to investigate, he found flames shooting up around the corner of his home and a neighbor walking away.

The homeowner told police he saw John Pietila walking with a bottle of lighter fluid in his hands. When asked what he was doing Pietila responded, “I’m burning your house down,” according to a police affidavit.

Police said Pietila was angry because he had been unable to sleep due to a party several nights before at his neighbor’s house.

When police Officer Derrick St. Laurent went to Pietila’s home, he found the suspect standing over a small fire. That fire turned out to be from a burning football.

“After seeing the charred football, I asked John what happened, he stated: ‘I lit it on fire,'” St. Laurent wrote in his affidavit. “I asked John if he knew why I was at his residence speaking to him. John stated: ‘Because I tried to light my neighbor’s house on fire.’ Then John began to laugh uncontrollably.”

Police said they found a bottle of lighter fluid and a lighter when they arrested Pietila. He remained at the county jail on Wednesday.

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