(Middletown) - Police are charging suspect Josh Lamb for setting the massive warehouse fire at the Middletown Paperboard building on New Year's Day.
They say Lamb, 35, is homeless and was staying in the former factory when he set a fire to keep warm. The blaze ignited his bed before flames consumed nearly the entire building.
The facility is located at 300 S. Verity Parkway and crews were still working to keep it out on January 2.
Lamb is facing an arson charge and his bond has been set at $20,000. He's due back in court on January 8 for a preliminary hearing.
In an update by Fire Chief Paul Lolli, Lamb told first responders that he was keeping warm in the building with four other people, and that he's not sure two of them made it out. Those two have been identified as JD Robinson, aka Justin De Vercelli, described as being a 40-year-old white man who's 5'7 and 225 lbs and Tiffany Orano. No physical details of Orano were given. Chief Lolli says crews have searched the area where those two were thought to be, and they've found no human remains.
The building was owned by BP Logan, and had been in foreclosure since 2018.