State police arrested a man they said was recorded on a pet camera minutes before a fire destroyed a Hempfield home and injured two firefighters, according to court papers.

Randy W. Bryner, 58, of Greensburg, is charged with burglary and criminal trespass. No charges related to the Jan. 2 fire have been filed, though troopers reported that it was believed to have been set intentionally.

Investigators believe Bryner took 200 silver coins valued at up to $5,000 from the Farmington Place home. The fire started in the den/great room area, said fire marshal Trooper Chet Bell.

Trooper Steve Limani said investigators are looking closely at how the fire was sparked.

“Part of our investigation is to make sure that there’s absolutely due diligence on our end to make sure there’s nothing that happened to the house on coincidence,” he said. “Unfortunately, that part of our investigation might take awhile.”

Meanwhile, the Auer family is looking for one of three dogs that were home at the time. Maurice Auer said Little Buddy, a black teacup Pomeranian, may have escaped.

“The community has been really great, they’ve gone out and they’ve searched around the woods area up there and … at this point we don’t know where Buddy’s at,” he said. “We’re really hoping that maybe Buddy will show up.”

Auer said the family was driving a rental car after flights home from vacation were canceled when they noticed something amiss through their Furbo pet camera. They contacted a family member to check on the house and learned it was on fire, immediately becoming concerned about the dogs.

The blaze was reported at 8 p.m. Firefighters were met with flames shooting through the roof, and the fire was too intense for them to get inside. Two firefighters were hospitalized for heat-related injuries.

Azi, a golden retriever/chow mix, and Little Girl, a toy Pomeranian service dog, perished in the blaze. All three dogs were being cared for by a pet sitter. Timmy, a turtle, was rescued from the burned home.

“We have evidence that two dogs we found, but we can’t find Little Buddy,” Auer said.

He was later stunned when he reviewed the footage from the pet camera and shared it with state police fire marshals. Auer told police the dogs noticed a disturbance Jan. 2 and then a man’s voice could be heard. The voice was identified as that of Bryner, who had performed handyman work at the home and sometimes watched the dogs, according to court papers.

Auer said Bryner was not supposed to be there.

He was seen in the great room/den area at 7:16 p.m., police said.

“The camera was a key component to the investigation,” Limani said. “The fact that they had the camera, the fact that they were familiar with this individual, the fact that he knows the dogs when he walks into the residence … .”

On Wednesday, Auer discovered the coins were missing during an excavation. Police said the clanking sound of metal pieces could be heard on the camera’s audio prior to the fire.

Bryner, who was arrested Friday, is being held at the Westmoreland County Prison on $250,000 bail. He did not have an attorney listed in online court records. A Jan. 21 preliminary hearing is set.

A GoFundMe account was set up for the family. About $10,000 had been raised as of Monday afternoon.

“We’ll try to build back the house, obviously we’re never going to get back all of the things that we had in our house,” Auer said. “They’re important to us but not as important as our animals were to us.”

When troopers arrested Bryner, they found him at home with a number of prescription medications and fentanyl films, police said. Troopers separately charged him with drug possession. Bail is set at $1,000 in that case. A Jan. 20 preliminary hearing is set.

Bryner previously was sentenced to five to 10 years in a state prison on burglary charges stemming from a 2013 incident in Northampton County, according to state records. He was released in August 2020 and remains on parole. His criminal history dates back to the 1980s.

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