Fire Law Blog Fire Service and Public Safety Legal Issues Blog by Curt Varone
A Missouri volunteer firefighter is facing three arson-related felonies for a series of fires dating back to last year. Joshua A. Gerstner, 19, was charged today with three counts of “knowingly burning or exploding.”
Gerstner was a firefighter with the Russellville-Lohman Fire Protection District. He reportedly confessed to setting a hay barn on fire last November, and setting to grass fires in February.
Investigators contend Gerstner set the hay barn on fire out of anger, and the two grass fires because he was bored. The hay barn was owned by his girlfriend’s family. He became a suspect because he was close to each scene or reported them.
According to ABC17, Gerstner has been suspended from the Russellville-Lohman Fire Protection District. More on the story.
