A LYONS, NEW YORK, VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTER has been arrested and accused of setting at least five fires in Wayne County.

The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle REPORTS:

Justin Confer, 20, of Geneva Street has been charged with five felony counts of third-degree arson, according to Wayne County sheriff’s deputies. Confer is a member of the Lyons Fire Department.

Deputies had been investigating Confer in connection with a series of suspicious fires. Lt. Bob Hetzke of the Sheriff’s Office said they followed him to an abandoned trailer on Fink Road about 6:35 p.m. Monday, and Confer set the trailer on fire.

Deputies arrested Confer when he returned to fight the fire.

In every instance of the arsons, Confer was the first to arrive at the fire station to respond on the alarm.  After being interrogated by the sheriff’s deputies, he confessed to setting four other barn fires in the same area.

The married father of two is being held under $40,000 cash bond.

WHAM-TV Ch. 13 Rochester has a video report:

TUESDAY AFTERNOON THE TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY released portions of the surveillance tapes showing the suspected arsonist of the Governor’s Mansion.

For nearly two months they had reisisted releasing the tapes due to security concerns.  But yesterday, admitting that they are stymied in their investigation, they made portions of the tapes available for media distribution in the hopes that somebody in the public will be able to help identify the man in the videos.

Two clips were released, one showing a man wearing a baseball cap with a Longhorn logo, a dark-colored, short-sleeve shirt and dark pants who appears to be carrying a bag as he walks along Lavaca Street behind the mansion.  Investigators say that he may be wearing glasses and appears to be between 5 feet 8 inches to 6 feet tall with a medium build.  The other clip from about three minutes later shows the villain running away from the house after the fire was set.

Not released was the portion of the tape that they possess showing the man throwing the firebomb onto the front porch of the mansion.

The Austin American-Statesman has the STORY.
KVUE has the video report showing the surveillance tapes:

THE FINAL REPORT FROM TEXAS DPS (Dept. of Public Safety) ON THE SECURITY LAPSES AT  last month’s devastating fire in the Governor’s Mansion was released Monday.

The report is forthwith and highly critical of the actions and procedures of the DPS from the top echelon down to the troopers who were on duty at the mansion.

Among the findings were the facts that there were never any written orders instructing the troopers how to perform and how to operate the security equipment.  There are written procedures explaining how to respond to smoke alarms, but those instructions were not available to troopers at the mansion during construction.

As we have already reported here, the intrusion alarm had been disabled for months and about 1/3 of the security cameras were not functioning.

The trooper on duty the morning of the June 8 fire, John Esposito, said he never conducted a fire watch during any of his 16 shifts between October and June, according to the report.

“Trooper Esposito said he didn’t know about the log or instructions to conduct a fire watch,” the report states. But it also states that the fire watch log shows Esposito’s name written in the log multiple times.

When the fire bomb was pitched into the front of the house, the trooper on duty, John Esposito, had his back to the camera monitors and was never aware of a fire in progress until the monitored fire alarm sounded.  It was another 7 minutes before he called the DPS command center to report it.  And then the DPS operator asked him if she needed to call the fire department.  All told, there was a 19-minute delay from the start of the fire until the FD was notified by DPS of the fire alarm.

Earlier this month the director of DPS, Col. Tommy Davis announced his retirement effective next month.

The entire 16-page report can be read in .pdf format HERE.
Firegeezer urges you to take the time to look over it.

WOAI Ch. 4 San Antonio summarizes the security lapses in this video:

KVUE Ch.  Austin shows the timeline of the delayed response:

Previous Firegeezer reports and videos on the fire and its aftermath last month can be read HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE.

AROUND 1 AM FRIDAY MORNING A FIRE STARTED IN a transmission repair shop in San Antonio, Texas.  When the FD arrived the building was heavily involved and was destructive to the point where the entire building will be demolished today.  Nine automobiles inside were lost, also.

Forty-five minutes after the original alarm, a police officer in nearby San Marcos observed a suspicious auto outside another transmission shop.   As she approached, a small explosion rocked the business and a fire broke out. A man ran out with his clothes on fire. The man was not seriously hurt. Three men were arrested at the scene.

Adam Rodriguez, 26, Michael Rodriguez, 18 and Jeremy Garcia, 19, are all in the Hays County jail. Five vehicles and about 30 percent of the business was damaged in the fire.

Both repair shops are owned by the same people, so you know where the investigation is leading.

KABB-TV in San Antonio has this video report:

INVESTIGATORS HAVE LOCATED HUMAN REMAINS in the Maplewood, Missouri home that was involved in the senseless murder of a Firefighter Ryan Hummert on Monday.  (See Firegeezer reports HERE and HERE.)

Post-Dispatch photo

They also recovered what was left of a rifle that is believed to be the one used in the shootings of FF Hummert and two police officers.  The investigators also say that they have enough evidence to determine if the body is that of the home’s eccentric owner Mark Knobbe.  However they say that they have no indication that the body is anyone other than the homeowner.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch has the full UPDATE.
The AP has this video report:

EARLY MONDAY MORNING A FIRE GUTTED THE 2ND AND 3RD FLOORS of a Lebanon, Pennsylvania apartment building leaving one dead and four injured, including two firefighters.

WGAL-TV

Suspicion was raised early when evidence of accelerants was apparent, but the body found has not been identified.  It was determined that the fatality was not the man who was the renter of the unit, so an arrest warrant was issued Tuesday for Nicholas Pappas, 42.  Later in the day, he was located by police in Camden County, New Jersey driving a stolen car which he crashed while trying to get away during the chase.

Nicholas Pappas

One occupant of the building was being rescued by a ladder company when she jumped from a window onto the aerial and landed on a firefighter.  She was flown to a burn center in Allentown due to her severe burns.  The firefighter was hospitalized with pelvis and lower back injuries.

The Lebanon Daily News has the story on the fire HERE.
WHP-TV Harrisburg has a good video report on the arrest and the fire:

IN THE MECKLENBURG REGION OF GERMANY, A VOLUNTEER FIRE CAPTAIN was arrested Sunday on arson charges.

Police take fire captain into custody on the fireground
in front of his shocked crew.  (SVZ photo)

Around 6:30 in the evening a fire call came in for an automobile repair garage on fire.  When the Neustadt-Glewe VFD arrived on the scene they found a stack of tires on fire with spread to other parts of the building.  With the assistance of two other departments, they had it knocked down quickly.

But one of the firefighters on the scene reported to the police that he had seen the fire captain who was in charge of the fire driving his personal vehicle rapidly away from the garage shortly before the alarm was called in.  The police detained him and searched his car where they found some “suspicious” materials.

They have not yet obtained a warrant for him, but the investigation is continuing.  The owner of the garage is a personal friend of the accused and is very upset.

Schweriner-Volkszeitung has the complete STORY.

Hat tip to Christian L.

SO FAR THIS YEAR, THE STATE OF VERMONT has had nine volunteer firefighters charged with arsons.  Throughout the decade of the 1990’s the state only had five such incidents.  There are approximately 7,000 firefighters in Vermont.

The situation is now being looked at by the Vermont Division of Fire Safety along with the Professional Firefighters of Vermont and other like agencies.

The Times Argus reports:

In May, six firefighters from the Wallingford Volunteer Fire Department were cited for arson and related charges. Police said they were believed to be responsible for as many as 23 suspicious fires in the area. Those charged included two sons of the chief, one of whom was first assistant chief and the other was a captain.

All six were suspended pending the outcome of their court cases, which were set for arraignment July 21. Chief Warren Allen resigned following the arrests.

Manchester’s junior firefighters program has been suspended pending a revamp, according to fire chief Philip Bourn.  “We kind of let them run a little loose,” Bourn said. “We didn’t explain stuff to them. … We just gave them the rules and regulations of the fire house, stuff like that. We figured it’d be common sense. A lot of these kids today don’t have common sense.” 

There are some small departments that are now requiring some sort of background check on new applicants, but it is difficult in areas that don’t have police departments.  South Carolina, for example, created a multi-question “profiling” test that can be used to screen out potential problem-members, but it is only being used sporadically.  But the departments that have used it have been able to spot dubious applicants and have denied them membership.

Read the full article HERE.  It is comprehensive and good reading.
 
 

COL. THOMAS A. DAVIS, JR., LONGTIME HEAD OF THE TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY, announced his retirement today after serving nearly 44 yrs. with the DPS.

Following heavy criticism from the department’s actions leading up to the devastating arson of the Governor’s Mansion last month, his departure is no suprise.  The agency had been under the gun for months because of lax standards and failures in achieving modern advances.

A recent state audit found that the agency suffered from inefficient management and operational problems that critics say have caused it to fall years behind the times.

His complete statement of resignation read:  “After 43 years and 9 months with the Texas Department of Public Safety, I am retiring on Aug. 31, 2008.” and was released at 11 am this morning.

TV station KVUE filed this video report:

TUESDAY NIGHT A FIRE RAGED THROUGH A BLOCK in downtown Springfield, Vermont.  The fire destroyed a major building and severely damaged another.  About 40 tenants of upper-floor apartments were left homeless.

Rutland Herald/Amanda Jean photo

Wednesday night police arrested a resident of the building and charged him with first degree arson.  John Gassert, Jr., 18, will be arraigned in District Court today.  Investigators closed in on him rapidly after interviewing other residents of the building who kept pointing him out as a suspect.  After questioning, he admitted guilt in the setting of the fire and his only motive, so far to be known, was for thrills “Kinda, sorta … yeah.”

The Rutland Herald has the complete story and a video HERE.

A vintage movie theater that is still in operation suffered a large monetary loss to the projection room and other rooms, but the auditoreum survived with only smoke damage.  The Springfield Theater gained some notoriety last year when it won a competition to host the world premiere of The Simpsons Movie.