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Volunteer Firefighter charged with 2 counts of Arson and 1 count Capital Murder!!!
House Fire in Union County Kills One; Volunteer Fireman Charged
UNION COUNTY, Mississippi (WLOV) - Two houses go up in flames and authorities said they have the person in custody who is responsible for it all...a volunteer fireman.
It happened Saturday September 5th, 2009 at 1:00 a.m., in the Alpine community, off Hwy 9 North.
Two fires at two houses less than a mile apart leaves one community shocked and authorities gathering information. One house was vacant, the other was occupied by Myrtle Owen, 89, who died trying to save her own life.
Owen's daughter tells WLOV News her mother was a respected member of the community. She said it's hard to understand why anyone would hurt her.
The strange twist, the person who authorities say is to blame is William Lambert, 22, of Guntown. Lambert is a volunteer fire fighter. Authorities say Lambert reported the blaze and he even knocked on Owen's daughter's door to tell her, her mother's home was on fire.
Officials said after questioning they can only think of one reason why he did it. Officials said the think Lambert liked to set buildings on fire, then he would try to put the fires out.
Owen's daughter said if she could talk to Lambert face to face she would ask one question, "Why?"
Lambert is currently in jail awaiting his first court appearance. He will be charged with two counts of first degree arson and one count of capital murder.
Owen's daughter said her mother was about to turn 90 years old soon, they were planning for her birthday.
UNION COUNTY, Mississippi (WLOV) - Two houses go up in flames and authorities said they have the person in custody who is responsible for it all...a volunteer fireman.
It happened Saturday September 5th, 2009 at 1:00 a.m., in the Alpine community, off Hwy 9 North.
Two fires at two houses less than a mile apart leaves one community shocked and authorities gathering information. One house was vacant, the other was occupied by Myrtle Owen, 89, who died trying to save her own life.
Owen's daughter tells WLOV News her mother was a respected member of the community. She said it's hard to understand why anyone would hurt her.
The strange twist, the person who authorities say is to blame is William Lambert, 22, of Guntown. Lambert is a volunteer fire fighter. Authorities say Lambert reported the blaze and he even knocked on Owen's daughter's door to tell her, her mother's home was on fire.
Officials said after questioning they can only think of one reason why he did it. Officials said the think Lambert liked to set buildings on fire, then he would try to put the fires out.
Owen's daughter said if she could talk to Lambert face to face she would ask one question, "Why?"
Lambert is currently in jail awaiting his first court appearance. He will be charged with two counts of first degree arson and one count of capital murder.
Owen's daughter said her mother was about to turn 90 years old soon, they were planning for her birthday.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Rick Bibb on
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What in the hell is wrong with these people. It hasn't been but a year or so since a vol done the same thing here. Luckily it didn't kill or harm anyone .
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Permalink Reply by Rusty Mancini on
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damnthing, couldn't agree more.There needs to be a National standard on NCIC nation wide background checks and a hiring standard. In my state they only do a state background check as of now.The SC state assoc.of firefighters are pushing legislators on a Nat.NCIC background check.I do a local sheriff's dept. check and the state NCIC check, but more needs to be done now period! I just let a guy go not too long ago that was on our cadet program something just didn't click with this young man. I tried to obtain a background check on this guy and because he was 17 yrs.old you cant get it.The only thing I could do, was asked some of friends and people that went to school with him, to see what I could find out about him and it was chilling. I also think there needs to be harsher penalties for these crimes.Send these people straight to Hell since they like fire so much!
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Permalink Reply by Terry on
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Being that he was a volunteer I doubt they had background checks. It is also to be noted that he volunteered with 3 different depts. I doubt that any background check would catch any underlying pyro traits or personality.
But one thing is for sure, this is going to put a bad light on us all.
My thoughts go out to the victim's family.
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Permalink Reply by FF Nick on
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I apologize on behalf of my state for one man's stupidity in it. It's a shame that Ms. Owens life was cut short by some idiot who was probably "bored" wanting a call. 89 years is a lot of notches on a belt, who knows how many more she had left. I hope he rots in prison if they don't decide to put the needle in his arm! May God have mercy on his soul and deepest sympathy to the Owens family!
DT is right, perhaps a change in hiring practices may have prevented this. Main problem is with Vollie depts is getting GOOD people in who join for the right causes and keeping them around. Alot of the good ones we get are typically military, around for 2-3 years then go to a new duty station. I see alot of FD's out there that let just about any swingin dick walk right through the door and say "I wanna be a fireman". So they give him a $3500.00 worth of equipment right off the bat and turn him loose without a background check, MVR, drug test, etc. Then when they hit the end of their probie period, you've seen them maybe a grand total of 3 times and now your pondering how to get your equipment back if possible.
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Permalink Reply by FETC on
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Many here want to bring up the C vs V debate and say we are all the same... but DT is on to something. Everyone would be better off if they actually treated the fire service (whether career or volunteer) as "the same" and used more of a business model with their employees potentially being a liability and reducing it with better background checks.
I am sorry but our department has some of the most strictest pre-employment hiring pracitices and it is not uncommon to go through 4-5 top candidates to hire one due to something arising from the background INVESTIGATION.
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Regardless of department status, you have the same liability, same personnel issues and same lawsuits.
I am amazed some are doing absolutely no background checks today.... doesn't take that much money (heck pretty much free) make the candidate bring in his state DMV criminal and driving record at HIS or HER cost, then call the references listed on his application, (here is the key) ready.... ASK THEM FOR NAMES OF PEOPLE THE REFERENCES KNOW (who knows the candidate) then call THOSE people for the real story. Come on, so you think anybody actually lists a name that the reference is going to say he's a bum, criminal, or loser? Use the internet to google search a kids name for news stories, FFN, Myspace, or Facebook history that would be unprofessional. Takes some time but you get what you invest into the hiring or screening system. In this case, a kid who more than likely had red flags that he liked to play with fire, killed someone and is now the organizations liability. Hello, do you think a previous DWI isn't a red flag, and when the same FF gets into an accident under the influence, do you think the lawyer is gonna say "yeah you would have had no way of knowing he was a drunk." Hey Chief, open up your wallet, your personal belongings and livelihood and pay for this piece of sh*t.
I am tired of hearing about we have to take what we get, lazy people, never comes out for calls, has hero syndrome, refusing to train, pyros, sexual harrassment, or I can't fire him because he volunteers his time...
Do you run it as a club or a professional fire department? Regardless if you get paid or not. Everyone needs to smarten up and run their organization as a business... the taxpayers see their tax money being spent by you, and yes you can fire a volunteer, if you run your organization professionally and not as a FN club.
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Sorry but around my way, we see some very professional volunteer fire departments that are run just as professional as any big city.
Leadership can get everything done if they empower some of their very own people, get them to buy into the system, and spread around some of the work amongst the men and women who will have to work with any potential candidate. Most departments who refuse to change the system "do not have a great leader"... sorry but the head honcho simply can't think outside the box. He not leading, he's "following" what he or she has seen for the last command structure.
I have even seen them physically go to a candidates, home, work, or school, interviewed the references to see if we should interview the candidate.
That seperates organizations from accepting a good person or not.
TCSS
FETC
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Permalink Reply by chief gerald wilson on
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The worst thing about the hole entire thing is this happens all the time, not because of someone slipping through the cracks its because of the ego problem. I had a guy on our dept that passed the back ground check not only with my dept but with another as well. He finally got caught doing his deed and was even given a lie dector test by the FBI but still nothing was ever done. when asked why he enjoyed doing it,he stated it was a rush and he enjoyed seeing his name in the paper. We had him banned for life from this dept and the other dept and he is still to this day being watched.
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WP -
Stealing a movie phrase - Show me the money!
Ok I guess I will write the policy for these lazy department heads who are not up to speed.
Guy comes in to say, Hey I want to volunteer. Great.
1. Give him a general job application. Name, DOB, employment and personal references, etc. Tell him to fill it out and return on the next meeting night with the following. Cost to the department - Nothing
2. Give him a copy of the hiring requirements. Job description, volunteer, training demands, and application requirements. To include coming back with a copy of HIS state DMV driving record and have him sign a form saying he is allowing the department to perform a background check. DMV record at at HIS or HER expense. Your Department Expense - Nothing
3. Call the police chief and request that they run a background check on the candidate so and so, he has given the department "written" permission to check his criminal history. Cost most likely - free a little inter-agency assistance.
3. He returns, tell him great job kid your following directions well and that he is on the right track. Tell him this process is thorough and will take time. Ours to be honest is about 3-6 mos. Then assign someone to research his listed references (here is the key) ready for it.... call them and ASK THEM FOR NAMES OF PEOPLE THEY KNOW (who knows or worked with the candidate)
4. Then call or visit THOSE people for the candidates real story. Cost again - well phone calls and time. Do this during the business meeting, so essentially FREE. Others could be using the internet to google search the kids name for news articles - stories, surfing FFN, Myspace, or Facebook for positive or negative history that would be unprofessional. COST to the department - TIME
5. So he is adding up to be a decent candidate, you tell the kid to come in next business meeting and you are going to have a department interview. Recruit some members, develop some questions that are personal, situational and review the candidates thoughts and opinions. COST- Well TIME BUT AGAIN FREE
6. He comes in and seems true, genuine and honest. Seems like maybe a keeper. So you then hand him a copy of NFPA 1582 Health Requirements for becoming a firefighter and tell him he will need to seek his own personal doctor or Occupation Health Doc at nearest medical facility and he will need to return to the next business meeting with the cover letter that states he in the opinion of the licensed doctor, is healthy enough to be a firefighter per the standards of NFPA 1582. Hmmmm cost to the department - NOTHING.
Wow, if the kid returns to the department with all of his paperwork, and your members can't find dirt, the PD says he is clean, and they interview goes well.... then you got a person sitting in front of you who seems to be genuine, follows directions, is physically fit and really wants to be a member of your department or organization.
All at the cost to the agency, some time, commitment.
MONEY WISE- 0 (nothing)
Maybe it is me but I am going to be progressive for the sake of my personal wallet and departments reputation.
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Proactive---Proactive---Proactive:
As I stated earlier about my problem with the cadet,it has caused our Board of directors and the chief to restructure our hiring practices.You have to be proactive and not just take every Tom, Dick and Harry that comes along.If you don't check out these whoever s before you're on the six-o clock news, you'll wish you did! DT,you nailed it on the head brother.Our latest one was not a pyro, but looking for an easy workmans comp. claim.
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Kali - This works especially well for the one's who forget easily. And DT you are right on bro...
We call a listed reference. During that interview we are asking and CROSS REFERENCING things like where he worked, (compared to what is on the application) how long, if the new hire says he has never been a FF, we ask the reference has his buddy always wanted to be a firefighter? then boom one guy will say, well I thought he was a firefighter previously at ... hmmm but no mention of that on the application REG FLAG!!! but it was found on the reference INVESTIGATION. Big hit in the honesty department.
Most original references will say the guy is great, they would work with him or hire him etc. We say to them thats great, we really like this guy but can you please tell me 3-5 people we can call who also knows or worked with this candidate as well.
Now, here is the REAL STORY. If you contact them, you will actually get a better picture of the true candidate. The original reference was asked and told hey you might be called for a reference. Nobody lists bad references, and we have even found candidates who were fired from previous fire departments and none of the employment references said anything bad about the person.... they can't it is against the law.
Back to the original post, most kids who like to play with fire didn't start the hero syndrome after they got on a fire department, that is smoke screen and most were in trouble with fire before.
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Well we can't protect every other department.... so I guess you get what you or your organization invests into it. I have spelled it out, with very little financial impact.
So if Chief's invest "nothing" and choose to accept all the presentable.......eventually he will have nothing.
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