Arson at U.S. Air Force Academy

(Colorado Springs, Colorado) A 38-year-old female contractor at the U.S. Air Force Academy, Michelle Smith, has been accused of setting four fires inside academy dormitories.

Smith admitted to setting the blazes, saying she was “upset, lonely and depressed." Fortunately, nobody was injured.

Smith faces charges of first-degree arson.

The first fire, about 9:30 a.m. Friday, burned a couch and left debris spread across a co-ed meeting room, according to an arrest affidavit.

A second fire about 45 minutes later left smoke damage that rose to the ceiling and fire damage on curtains, as well as burned janitorial items on the floor, the affidavit said.

Smith later admitted to a sheriff’s deputy that she lit clothes on top of the couch, and left a burning piece of paper on the heater.

Two more blazes three hours apart on Monday burned the inside of trash compactor rooms on the dorm’s ground floor — each burning in trash that Smith allegedly set fire to, she told the deputy.

Smith was booked into the El Paso County Jail with bond set at $25,000.