Staff Writer

A Biddeford woman pleaded guilty last week to setting fire to an apartment building that left 13 tenants homeless.

Nichole Howe, 28, was sentenced to 12 years in prison with all but six years suspended for setting fire Nov. 9, 2010, to the Cutts Street apartment building where she lived with her mother.

Howe also will serve four years probation after her prison sentence. She pleaded guilty and was sentenced July 5 in York County Superior Court.

According to a court affidavit filed by Michael Keely, senior investigator with the state Fire Marshal’s Office, Howe used a baby carriage stuffed with newspapers under the front porch to start the fire. The $650,000 building was a total loss and was razed within days of the fire.

During an interview with investigators, Howe denied setting the fire “but made the statement during the interview that she didn’t think the fire would have grown so fast,” Keely wrote in the affidavit.

Howe later told Keely “she did purposefully flick the cigarette into the baby carriage to start the fire,” according to the affidavit. The carriage belonged to a fourth-floor tenant who escaped injury with her children and other tenants.

Staff Writer Gillian Graham can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 213.