Just one day after he signed his mobile home over to a new owner, Dustin J. Hargenrader set several fires in the place at 1970 Beech St. in Lycoming Township on the afternoon of March 4, Lycoming Regional police alleged in an affidavit.

“He intended to destroy the trailer by starting a fire inside,” Det. Jordan Mahoski wrote in a criminal complaint.

At his arraignment Thursday, Hargenrader said,”I understand the charges, but I don’t know how I can get into trouble by burning my own stuff.”

Although Hargenrader, 38, escaped the burning modular home with his dog, he suffered severe smoke inhalation and other injuries that he was first taken to UPMC Williamsport and then transferred to the trauma center at Lehigh Valley Hospital in Allentown.

Up until March 3, Hargenrader owned the trailer, but then signed it over to Michael Chelentis, who owns the lot on which the trailer sits, Mahoski said court papers.

Investigators said Chelentis told them that Hargenrader owed his family “about $1,700 in back rent and $353 in taxes,” the affidavit stated.

Hargenrader signed over the trailer “to relieve him of the owed back rent and taxes,” police were told.

After the transaction, Chelentis told Hargenrader that he was going to rent the trailer to one of Hargenrader’s neighbors. This upset Hargenrader because he “doesn’t get along with the neighbor,” the affidavit stated.

“Chelentis stated Hargenrader made a comment that he would ‘burn the place down,'” the affidavit stated.

While Hargenrader was being treated at UPMC, “his clothes were removed and packaged in separate bags. The bags were picked up by police and logged into an evidence room. There was a strong chemical odor on the clothes,” Mahoski said in court papers.

A state police fire marshal ruled the blaze was arson and determined there were “several areas of origin for the fire” Mahoski said.

Blood taken from Hargenrader while he was hospitalized showed that there were “high levels of methamphetamine in his system,” Mahoski said.

Hargenrader, now living at 452 Wilson St,, was taken into custody there about 11 a.m. on felony charges of arson, risking a catastrophe and misdemeanor charges of failure to prevent a catastrophe, recklessly endangering another person and criminal mischief. Following his arraignment before District Judge William Solomon, he was jailed in the Lycoming County Prison in lieu of $100,000 bail.