AUBURN — A Lewiston man charged with setting fire to a sofa in a storage room at Big Lots in Auburn last weekend reportedly told an investigator he was a volunteer with the South Portland Fire Department, according to an affidavit.

Ryan Graffam, 22, of 8 Orange St., appeared in 8th District Court in Lewiston on Wednesday on a charge of Class A arson. If convicted, he faces up to 30 years in prison.

He remained in the Androscoggin County Jail in Auburn late Wednesday. Bail was set at $5,000 cash, or $10,000 worth of real estate, or $1,000 cash and a supervised release agreement. Condition of release include no use or possession of incendiary devices, such as lighters or matches, submitting to random searches, never returning to any Big Lots stores and abiding by a 6 p.m. to 8 a.m. curfew.

Investigator Isaiah Peppard of the Office of Maine State Fire Marshal wrote in an affidavit that he received a report of a fire around 7 p.m. Saturday at the Big Lots on 730 Center St. Graffam reported the fire and identified himself as a South Portland volunteer firefighter when he called 911.

Graffam told Peppard he found three sofas on fire in the rear storage room and put it out with the help of a store manager. Damage contained to the room, the affidavit said.

Peppard said he could find “no accidental fire causes.”

He also wrote that Auburn Deputy Chief Matt Fifield called the South Portland Fire Department and was told Graffam had never been a member of their department.

Two days later, Peppard said he interviewed Graffam at his home where Graffam told him he had always wanted to be a firefighter and seemed “very knowledgeable of various fire departments and their fire apparatus.”

“Ryan told me that he applied to get onto the South Portland volunteer department, but the fire chief denied (him) going any further in the process,” Peppard wrote.

During the interview, Peppard said Graffam admitted he started the fire with a disposable butane lighter by “burning a hole in the bottom dust cover of the couch.”

“Graffam told me that he controlled the fire by watching it grow to a point that he felt it wasn’t going to get out of control, and then reported discovering the fire,” Peppard wrote. He “wanted the experience of what it was like to put a fire out like a fireman.”

« Previous

Bail set at $50,000 cash for 18-year-old charged in Auburn shooting

Next »

Lewiston ‘pump house’ redevelopment talks move forward despite concern from Museum L-A