{"id":123183,"date":"2026-02-25T16:24:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T16:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/123183\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T16:24:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T16:24:09","slug":"pennsylvania-man-set-multiple-fires-around-his-home-because-he-needed-to-kill-the-spiders-police-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/123183\/","title":{"rendered":"Pennsylvania man set multiple fires around his home because he &#8220;needed to kill the spiders,&#8221; police say"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Police in Pennsylvania&#8217;s Pocono Mountains region are looking for a man who allegedly burned down his home and his neighbors&#8217; homes in an effort to avoid spiders.<\/p>\n<p>Sean McDermott, 36, of Pocono Pines, is wanted on charges of felony arson and aggravated arson, as well as other offenses, according to the Pocono Mountain Regional Police Department.<\/p>\n<p>Authorities were called out to the residences near the Pinecrest Lake Golf and Country Club around 6 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 23, for a report of a fire.<\/p>\n<p>The fire started in one townhome on Uncus Lane, but spread to and consumed three other homes connected to it, according to police.<\/p>\n<p>      <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/pennsylvania-man-sets-fire-due-to-spiders.jpg#.jpeg\" alt=\"pennsylvania-man-sets-fire-due-to-spiders.jpg \" height=\"349\" width=\"620\" class=\" lazyload\"  loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                Tobyhanna Township Volunteer Fire Company<\/p>\n<p>Fire crews battled the blaze for about eight hours, braving high winds, ice and frigid temperatures before bringing it under control, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid02Pv9tAJpArpk4wrL8ieDvWtgBY1tJEvyF7tKN7ibcGwSm1Z7qFsLj9jijEZSLjuWcl&amp;id=100064616295146\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">according to the Tobyhanna Township Volunteer Fire Company<\/a>. At least seven neighboring fire companies assisted in the response.<\/p>\n<p>An unidentified witness told officers they saw McDermott setting multiple fires in his home throughout the day, and that he had a smoldering fire going on the floor of his home. He then put a loveseat on top of the fire, the witness said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;McDermott stated that he needed to kill the spiders within the residence,&#8221; the police report stated.<\/p>\n<p>The witness said he kept putting out the fires, but McDermott kept re-lighting them. The two eventually left McDermott&#8217;s home and returned to find it engulfed in flames, according to police.<\/p>\n<p>      <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/pennsylvania-man-lights-fires-due-to-spiders.jpg#.jpeg\" alt=\"pennsylvania-man-lights-fires-due-to-spiders.jpg \" height=\"349\" width=\"620\" class=\" lazyload\"  loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                Tobyhanna Township Volunteer Fire Company<\/p>\n<p>McDermott then fled the area in a U-Haul truck and has not yet been located. He is considered a fugitive, and anyone with knowledge of his location should call 911 or contact Pocono Mountain Regional Police.<\/p>\n<p class=\"content__tags__label\">In:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Police in Pennsylvania&#8217;s Pocono Mountains region are looking for a man who allegedly burned down his home and&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":123184,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2941,28,30,29,22133,57870],"class_list":{"0":"post-123183","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pennsylvania","8":"tag-monroe-county","9":"tag-pennsylvania","10":"tag-pennsylvania-headlines","11":"tag-pennsylvania-news","12":"tag-poconos","13":"tag-spider"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123183\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/123184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}