Arson Found as Cause of Betzwood Trailer Park Fire

As previously , a fire occurred at 115 Whitley Drive in the Betzwood Trailer Park of Lower Providence on Aug. 3.

The report states that as a result from damages to the manufactured home, the structure was knocked down.

According to an affidavit by Lower Providence Police detective and township fire marshal Charles DeFrangesco, 31 first-responders, including the Lower Providence Township Volunteer Fire Company, were dispatched to the scene at 11:17 p.m.

In the affidavit, the home’s occupants, Joanne Ryan Frye and her husband, were outside their residence with their dogs, when emergency personnel arrived.

Joanne Frye told investigators that she was alerted of the fire by her dogs, and saw smoke coming from the bedroom. She then woke her husband, who was asleep in the living room.

In the affidavit, Joanne Frye’s husband confirmed that she had awoken him and found the fire in a bedroom closet. In his attempt to suppress the fire, he suffered a burn to his right hand.

On Aug. 6, an insurance representative met with Joanne Frye, presenting her with a check for $2,500 for preliminary needs and notified her of prepaid housing at a local hotel.

Prior to the meeting with the insurance representative, DeFrangesco had asked for separate statements from both Joanne Frye and her husband.

In her statement, Joanne Frye said she did not start the fire and suspected the cause was electrical.

Her husband was interviewed approximately an hour later. In his statement, he said that he did not see nor smell smoke as Joanne Frye indicated, but did find the fire in the bedroom closet.

After meeting with the insurance representative, DeFrangesco and Montgomery County Detective John Fallon interviewed Joanne Frye again. After an examination of the scene, Fallon, along with Pennsylvania State Police, said it was their opinion that the fire was incendiary in nature, intentionally set by human hands.

At the second interview, Joanne Frye acknowledged she lied in her previous statement. According to the affidavit, she said she started the fire by igniting a drape in the bedroom closet with a lighter.

“She said the residence is insured for $50,000 and she started the fire to get the insurance money to move to Florida,” DeFrangesco said in the affidavit.

Joanne Frye was charged with arson-danger of death of bodily injury, arson-intent collect insurance, causing or risking catastrophe, and other related charges.

According to a Lower Providence Township press release, she was remanded to the Montgomery County Correctional Institute in lieu of $200,000 cash bail.  A preliminary hearing before Judge Rebar is scheduled for August 15.

The release further states that in 2009 there was a fire of suspicious origin in a manufactured home owned by Joanne Ryan.

That fire remains under investigation.