Nov 6, 2013 4 min read

Tina Koskoski set the fire that destroyed the Roscoe apartment building where she was living because she was tired of loud tenants and drug activity running through the complex, a state police fire marshal testified during her preliminary hearing Wednesday morning.

Nearly four months after the June 22 fire at 600 Furlong Ave. destroyed the three-story building and injured three firefighters and a tenant, state police Fire Marshal Steven Thompson testified that Koskoski confessed to the arson by igniting a mattress in the basement.

“I was frustrated about noisy neighbors and all the drugs going on in the building,” Thompson read from her written confession Oct. 18. “I was not wanting to hurt anyone.”

District Judge Larry Hopkins held all 179 charges against Koskoski, 46, of 124 Prospect Ave., Charleroi, and ordered she stand trial. Koskoski faces four counts of arson, 85 counts of causing a catastrophe, 85 counts of reckless endangerment, four counts of simple assault and one count of criminal mischief. She was returned to Washington County jail on $50,000 bond.

Prosecutors called four witnesses to describe the stubborn fire that displaced at least 19 tenants and sent one resident and two firefighters to the hospital. Wearing an orange prison suit, Koskoski looked intently at each witness, but spoke only twice to correct the pronunciation of her last name.

State police Fire Marshal Shaun Jones began investigating immediately after the fire, but structural damage to the first floor made it impossible for him to safely access the basement. He conducted a preliminary investigation and estimated the fire caused $200,000 worth of damage, but could not determine the cause because a portion of the building collapsed.

Thompson, the other fire marshal, returned to the scene Oct. 10 when insurance adjusters for the building’s owners requested access to the boarded-up building. Thompson said he immediately was able to determine that the fire started in a storage bin holding a bed mattress and rule the cause of the blaze as arson. A week later, he interviewed Koskoski because she was the first to notice the fire and alerted residents of the emergency.

He testified that Koskoski told investigators she went into the basement after noticing the lights flickering and went to check the breaker box. She then went upstairs and noticed smoke coming out of the vents, Thompson testified. However, investigators questioned how she did not immediately notice fire, smoke or the person who would’ve started the blaze.

An hour later, Koskoski signed a written confession admitting to lighting a corner of the mattress on fire, Thompson testified.

A formal arraignment on all of the charges has not been scheduled.

Meanwhile, Koskowski pleaded guilty Friday to a summary offense of dangerous burning in connection with the Sept. 24 fire that caused minor damage to a house at 710 Crest Ave. in Charleroi. She was ordered to a pay a $440 fine in that case.

Koskoski, who previously was known as Tina Flynn, pleaded guilty to two counts of dangerous burning in October 2007 after being charged with multiple arson counts after two other incidents in Charleroi. Police said she confessed to trying to set fire to an apartment in the borough in March 2007 by stuffing newspapers between the bricks and igniting them. She also was accused of starting a fire at a borough home in June 2006 that destroyed the residence, damaged two neighboring dwellings and injured two firefighters. She served five years of probation.