Four firefighters have been arrested on suspicion of igniting between 15 and 20 fires in western Arizona so they could get paid for fighting them, officials said Tuesday.
Authorities also charged two men suspected of setting fires to get money from the firefighters, and were seeking arrest warrants for two former firefighters who have moved out of state.
The firefighters worked at the fire district in Ehrenberg, a town of about 1,200 people and about 140 miles west of Phoenix on the Arizona-California line. They got $10 an hour per fire.
The six men arrested are suspected of igniting at least 15 fires in abandoned trailer homes, on open land and in expensive haystacks owned by farmers between January 2006 and last week, La Paz County sheriff's Lt. Glenn Gilbert said.
No one was hurt in the fires, the most costly of which destroyed a $200,000 haystack. Gilbert said the firefighters admitted to starting the blazes to make money and targeted haystacks because those types of fires can last for days.
No comments:
Post a Comment