A Virginia man was arrested Friday after he made and set off multiple firebombs, according to the Arlington County Office of the Fire Marshal.

Charles Peters, 77, has been charged with five counts of manufacturing, possession of and use of firebombs and other explosives and is being held without bond, per a release from the Arlington Fire Department. There is no ongoing threat to the public, officials said.

Mr. Peters was arrested by local and federal law enforcement, though fire officials didn’t specify if the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms or another agency helped.

Residents in the Bluemont neighborhood along the Custis Trail reported hearing loud noises, which prompted the investigation by the Arlington fire marshal. 

“I heard two really large bangs at about 9:30 or 10 at night and I was very concerned. We didn’t do anything about it because we thought it was kids setting off firecrackers or something,” local resident Sharon Williams told NBC affiliate WRC-TV.

The bangs had been going off for weeks, other locals alleged.

“It has been about a month that we had been hearing a loud boom in our neighborhood. Either very early in the morning between 6 to 7 a.m. or after 10:30 p.m. The sound is hard enough to sometimes make the windows shake,” an unnamed resident of the Dominion Hills neighborhood told local news site ARLnow. 

Mr. Peters was convicted on explosives-related charges in 1991 and sentenced to mental health treatment and spent one month in jail, according to ARLnow.

• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.