Former worker charged with setting fire at Lincoln mill

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - A man has been charged with setting a fire that destroyed two buildings at the former Lincoln, Maine, paper mill.

Officials say David Parsons of Lincoln, a former worker at the mill, was charged Thursday with three counts of arson.

More than a dozen fire departments were called in to help douse the fire that started Wednesday afternoon and destroyed a 300-foot-long warehouse and a scale shed.

Fire raised concerns about toxins on the site. Lincoln officials voted to seek a Superfund designation for the site that’s contaminated with cancer-causing asbestos, dioxin, heavy metals and PCBs.

Arson carries a sentence of up to 30 years in prison. Parson was held at the Penobscot County Jail, where he couldn’t be reached. It unclear if he’d hired an attorney.

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This story has been corrected to show the defendant’s last name is Parsons, not Parson.