Fire Law Blog Fire Service and Public Safety Legal Issues Blog by Curt Varone
A third volunteer firefighter has been charged with arson in Cleburne County, Alabama, following the arrests of two firefighters for arson earlier this month.
Adrian Campbell, 19, was arrested on January 21, 2011 for setting a fire vacant home on fire on November 17, 2010. The other two firefighters, Tyler Moore and Kevin Johnson, both 18, were arrested two weeks ago in connection with a January 6, 2011 fire. Moore was also charged in connection with the November 17th fire. All were members of the Hollis Crossroads Volunteer Fire Department.
The Fire Litigation Database currently has 268 criminal cases against firefighters for duty related offenses, 67 of which are arson cases (25%). Fifty-three of those cases (79.1%) involve volunteer or call firefighters. While 13 of the 14 career firefighter arson cases (92.3%) involve firefighters acting alone, 24 out of 52 of the volunteer cases (46.2%) involved multiple defendants and/or conspiracies to set fires.
The numbers present a stark difference between career and volunteer fire setters, and indicate that arson in the volunteer service is much more likely to occur among groups of firefighters, as appears to have been the case in Cleburne County. One would hope that the social nature of these arson groups might offer an opportunity for fire department leadership to intervene and prevent fires from occurring. At a minimum volunteer fire officers need to be attentive to clues indicating that some in the organization may be contemplating or involved in such actions.
