Michigan Firefighter Accused Of Starting The Fire He Was Fighting

It's hard to say if this guy is a firebug or if he was sitting around the firehouse on a slow night and got bored, but there's a firefighter who's in some big, big trouble after being accused of starting the fire he and his crew were trying to put out.

Officials in Chippewa County said they were called to a fire in the evening of Saturday, November 11th, in Whitefish Township. It was the third fire in that same area within the past few months, according to authorities investigating the matter.

Deputies said that during the blaze, they checked the surveillance video from a gas station across the road and identified 35-year-old Joseph Carl Halder, as the person who had set the building on fire, local news outlet WOOD-TV said.

Halder is a volunteer firefighter in the Upper Peninsula who had been working with the Whitefish Township Fire Department for a few months, the news outlet says.

While teams battled the blaze, officers arrived and arrested Joseph Halder for arson - since they, you know, had video of him doing it - and took him to the Chippewa County Correctional Facility, where he's being held currently on a $200,000 bond.

Halder was arraigned Monday at 91st District Court on a charge of third-degree arson - a charge that will carry up to 10 years in prison, if convicted.

WOOD-TV has reported that Joseph Halder is a person of interest in two other nearby fires that happened in recent months.

Read more at Click On Detroit

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