BREMERTON — A 28-year-old Tacoma man is charged with first-degree arson for his alleged role in a house fire Feb. 3 at 2824 Tracyton Beach Road NW, East Bremerton.

Robert S. Brewer’s bail was originally set at $500,000, Kitsap County Sheriff’s spokesman Deputy Scott Wilson said. Two other individuals — a 22-year-old female and a 44-year-old male, both from Lakewood — were detained for questioning, arrested, then later released.

Witnesses reported seeing the three walking away from the burning house; Bremerton police officers stopped the suspects a half-mile down the road.

Bremerton firefighters were working at 5 p.m. Feb. 3 to contain the house fire; smoke filled the street as firefighters battled the blaze.

The house was not permanently occupied when the fire was set. When detectives arrived at the scene a day later, Wilson said, they found a 33-year-old man from Poulsbo sleeping in the burned house. He claimed he had been there for weeks. But when police contacted the homeowner, they found out the individual inside the house was staying there illegally.

The three individuals arrested Feb. 3 had reportedly been looking for the Poulsbo man and, when they found he wasn’t there, Brewer allegedly “set something on fire,” ultimately leading to the house becoming engulfed in flames, Wilson said.

— Jacob Moore is a reporter for Kitsap Daily News group. Contact him at jmoore@soundpublishing.com.