NORFOLK — According to town court documents, the student charged with arson following the fire on Feb. 10 at Van Housen Hall on the SUNY Potsdam Campus, was reportedly throwing lit matches at a spit cup when the blaze started.

Phonta Z. Johnson Jr. of Buffalo, a transfer student to SUNY Potsdam, was arraigned Tuesday, Feb. 13 in Norfolk Town Court on charges of second and fourth degree arson in connection with the incident and was held at St. Lawrence County jail on $25,000 bail.

Over 60 students who resided in the dorm were displaced from the fire, with a few closest to Johnson’s room, Room 304, having to be relocated for the semester.

According to court documents, Johnson was reportedly in his room lighting matches and throwing them in a spit cup around 6:16 p.m., when one of the matches apparently caused “incendiary materials located under his bed to ignite and start a fire in the room.

The blaze caused significant damage to room 304 and several dorm rooms next door, the court said.

Five fire departments responded to the fire which was reported out around 8 p.m.