(ABC 6 News) – A man is facing arson charges in connection with an apartment fire that happened last week in Rochester.

According to Rochester police, Richard Dalton originally told investigators the fire started when he fell asleep with a cigarette.

Dalton appeared in Olmsted County Court Monday, Jan. 13, on felony 1st- and 3rd-degree arson charges.

At about 4 a.m. Jan. 6, Rochester police responded to the Falcon Landing fire, where heavy smoke was coming from the roof of the shared apartment building.

After the fire was extinguished and 22 people evacuated, police spoke with Dalton, the resident in the apartment where the fire began.
According to court documents, the fire marshal at the scene doubted Dalton’s story that he had fallen asleep on the couch and “woke up with flames around his head” because Dalton had no burn or singe marks on his clothing.

The fire marshal also knew that cigarettes don’t often ignite couches because the safeguards on cigarettes and couch materials do not often cause ignition.

On Jan. 8, Rochester police obtained surveillance footage of the building, which allegedly showed Dalton entering and exiting his apartment multiple times. At about 4:45, Dalton re-entered the apartment and police noted “a flicker of light” reflecting off the floor outside his unit 11 seconds later.

Police and fire arrived for the fire call about four minutes after that.

Police did not see Dalton with a cigarette at any point.

Another man approached police later and told them Dalton had talked to him about three days before the fire about the apartment’s cameras.

“Dalton noticed that one of the apartment cameras was not recording properly and asked how that would
affect a potential investigation,” court documents read. “This caused Witness to become suspicious as there was no reason for an investigation at the time.”

On Friday, Jan. 10, police spoke with Dalton, who allegedly said he had entered the apartment building early Jan. 6, lit a cigarette on the stove, then fell asleep and woke up with flames around him.

Dalton then said he began knocking on other people’s doors and yelling to get them to evacuate.

Police noted that Dalton’s version of events did not match the events in the surveillance footage.

He was released on $0 bail with conditions.

Dalton’s next hearing is scheduled for Feb. 5.

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The Rochester Fire Department was on the scene of an apartment building fire early Monday morning.

According to a press release from RFD, they responded to the scene at 897 16 Avenue Southeast at 4:47 a.m., where they found and apartment building with heavy fire and smoke coming from windows and openings on the second floor.

RFD began extinguishing the fire while also searching for any occupants. Red Cross was summoned to help coordinate housing for 20 displaced individuals. There were no civilian or firefighter injuries.

One apartment received extensive fire damage, and many others on the second floor received smoke damage.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.