A Lehighton man charged with setting a fire that destroyed several trailers at a Mahoning Township trucking company was ordered to stand trial.

Anthony Dick, 40, was an employee at Estes Express Lines, 457 Mahoning Drive East (Route 902), when a fire broke out in a truck trailer in the vicinity where he was working on the evening of Aug. 24.

During a hearing before District Judge Casimir Kosciolek in Lansford, it was disclosed that not only did a fire occur at the truck trailer, but there were fires discovered at two other locations inside the terminal earlier that day. One of those fires was in an area where employees are not permitted. This fire was discovered and put out by Dick, according to testimony.

Dick is charged with two counts of arson and one count of causing or risking a catastrophe, all felony charges. He is free on $100,000 bond.

Mahoning Township police filed the charges after Dick, who first denied having anything to do with the origins of the fire in the trailer, said that he accidentally caused the fire.

That fire not only destroyed several truck trailers but also spread to the trucking terminal and caused damage at one end of the structure.

The police affidavit said about 85 firefighters from seven fire departments battled the intense blaze.

Estes Express is located at the site of what was previously the New England Motor Freight Trucking Company terminal.

The fire happened at about 7:30 p.m. Earlier that day a fire broke out in a vacated office area on the second floor of the terminal. In addition, there was evidence that a fire had occurred earlier that in a wooden crate in the area once used as a mechanic shop of the terminal.

A state trooper testified that there were five different ignition points for the Aug. 24 fires.

No fire department response occurred for the other fires.

A fire also occurred in a dumpster on the Estes premises on Aug. 11. No charges were filed in that fire.

Mahoning Township police officer Corey Frey testified that when Dick’s backpack was searched, police found an Ozark Trail flint and steel fire starter. Frey said Dick told him he had been camping and forgot to remove the item from the backpack.

Trooper Zachary Martini, a state police fire marshal at the Hazleton barracks, testified that the burning trailer was discovered by other employees at the Estes terminal. He said Dick told him that he grabbed an extinguisher and ran to the trailer to try to extinguish it. Before trying to put it out, Martini said, Dick took photos of the burning vehicle.

The trooper said there was “no ignition source” inside the trailer that would have created the fire.

Martini said when he was informed of the second-floor fire, he went to the scene to investigate.

He was informed that Dick had discovered this fire and reported it to his supervisor.

The fire was small and contained to a piece of cardboard, a roll of toilet paper and a ceiling tile.

“Everything with Anthony Dick was suspicious,” Martini said. “My hypothesis is that the flint and steel ignited the toilet paper.”

Dick entered a not guilty plea through his attorney. He did not testify.

His next appearance will be for a pre-trial conference in Carbon County Court on May 26.