Fire Law Blog Fire Service and Public Safety Legal Issues Blog by Curt Varone
Four Tennessee volunteer firefighters have been charged with arson in connection with a series of recent fires, including one that destroyed a fire station.
The suspects are all members of the Houston County Fire Department, and according to local officials all have longstanding connections with area firefighters. The firefighters include Jeremy Mackens, 19, and Daryl Buttons, Michael Brooks and Robert Taylor Richardson, all of whom are 20 years old. The fire station that was destroyed was in McKinnon, Tennessee. Two engines were destroyed.
No injuries were reported in any of the fires, and all four members have been suspended from the department. Here is more on the story.
At the present time, the fire litigation database contains a total of 91 criminal cases of arson by firefighters involving 161 defendants. 63 cases (69.2%) involve volunteer fire departments, 12 involve combination departments and 16 involve career departments.
28 of the volunteer cases (44.4%) involve conspiracies among multiple volunteer firefighter-defendants. This should be contrasted with arson in the career service. In 15 of the 16 cases involving career departments the defendant arsonist acted alone, and in the other case two firefighters conspired to set a small fire outside another company’s station as a prank. In 7 of the 12 cases involving combination departments, the arsonist acted alone and while 5 cases involved conspiracies.
Based on this limited data, it would appear that volunteer firefighter arsonists are might more likely to engage in arson conspiracies than career firefighter arsonists. The motive in the vast majority of these cases appears to be to gain experience in fighting the fires. This may offer an opportunity for volunteer fire service leaders to intervene – by being watchful for individuals or groups of individuals who may be contemplating such activities out of boredom or a need to prove themselves. On the other hand, the data shows that career firefighter arsonists are more likely to act alone and burn for profit. That problem may prove more difficult to predict.
