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Three South Carolina Volunteers Charged with Arson
COWPENS, S.C. - Three volunteer firefighters in South Carolina have been charged with setting a mobile home on fire last month.
Spartanburg County deputies told the Herald-Journal of Spartanburg that 21-year-old William Dustin Crisp and two 16-year-old men were arrested late Monday on second-degree arson charges.
The men are members of the Cowpens Fire Department. Fire Chief Jamie Caggiano called investigators are putting out a suspicious fire in an abandoned mobile home on March 20.
Caggiano says his firefighters told him they made a stupid, childish decision.
It wasn't immediately clear if Crisp had an attorney.
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Information from: Herald-Journal, http://www.goupstate.com/
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Spartanburg County deputies told the Herald-Journal of Spartanburg that 21-year-old William Dustin Crisp and two 16-year-old men were arrested late Monday on second-degree arson charges.
The men are members of the Cowpens Fire Department. Fire Chief Jamie Caggiano called investigators are putting out a suspicious fire in an abandoned mobile home on March 20.
Caggiano says his firefighters told him they made a stupid, childish decision.
It wasn't immediately clear if Crisp had an attorney.
___
Information from: Herald-Journal, http://www.goupstate.com/
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by lang on
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See Pennsylvania firefighters aren't the only ones who light things on fire
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Permalink Reply by Art "ChiefReason" Goodrich on
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NO; NO; NO!
Holding your breath when you don't get what you want is childish.
Sticking your finger in a light bulb socket is stupid.
Setting a fire is criminal.
Setting a fire if you are a firefighter is an act of terror, for you have violated the public trust by masquerading so you could commit a most heinous crime. It creates the notion that firefighters can no longer be trusted to put fires out if they are the ones setting them.
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Permalink Reply by Jack/dt on
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I think that calling firefighter arson an act of terror is over the top. It's criminal, and that it may have been done by firefighters is egregious but I don't believe it falls into the category of terrorism. Arson in general may have a terror component in that with serial arsonists the residents may feel "terrorized" but it fails the test for what is commonly called terrorism. An individual or group that were to use arson as a means of terrorizing a community, for whatever ends, could be termed a terrorist(s) irrespective of whether or not one or any of them were firefighters.
The issue here is that almost all firefighter arson is a result of young, white, male volunteer firefighters, the operative word here being volunteer. If any of the accused (in this instance as well as in other ones) had any prior charges or suspicion then part of the blame has to lie with the fire department itself, if it failed to perform a background check as part of a pre-employment screening.
I would like to see the hiring standards and procedures of the departments that have had members charged with arson, most likely a background check is not required. I'm willing to bet that the hiring standards are not far removed from being able to fog a mirror.
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Permalink Reply by Chris on
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I had a chance to do some heavy extrication training here in NC with some guys from Cowpens last year. Seemed to be a great bunch of guys. What a shame that a few tarnish the image of the whole department. A stupid childish decision is to say the least, how about criminal. How can we expect the public to trust us when things like this happen. Have a little pride in what you do guys. Pride in your job and pride in yourself.
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Jack:
My use of the term "terror" is to reflect the psychological component of the act of a firefighter setting a fire.
It causes people to look at every firefighter with a suspicious eye-call it "profiling", but they will change their behavior based on the firefighter firesetter's behavior. They will get a guard dog, install an alarm system in their home, keep the lights on at night, stay home with shades drawn and possibly sleep with one eye open.
That is what I was referring to.
It's not Osama bin Laden terror, but it is terror nonetheless.
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Permalink Reply by David "slick" Rivers on
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All I can say is....."STUPID"...
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