Nesconset FD-Firefighter arrested for arson

July 4, 1958 Christopher J. Bitterman was arrested and charged with setting approximately 90 brush fires in the past 12 months. The 31 year old, unemployed trucker, had been in the department for approximately 2 years. He pleads guilty to malicious mischief (brush fires were not arson back then) and was given a suspended sentence. He was placed on probation for a year and was forced to resign from the department. Bitterman lived with his wife and two children on Lincoln Avenue, was caught in the act on this date after a tip was phoned in to the fire department. Chief of Department William Pipes notified police and accompanied Sgt Edward Magee and patrolman Thomas Flynn to the area of Browns Road around 3PM. Police say that the spotted Bittermans car and then saw him bending over a brush fire east of Nichols Road. They said that when Bitterman heard them approach, he began stamping out the fire. Police said that he first stated that he had seen the fire and was only trying to extinguish it. Once presented with the evidence against him, he confessed. No accellerant was ever used and none of the fires ever resulted in property damage or injury. Bitterman would always set the fires and then wait at the firehouse to be dispatched.