U.S. fireman sentenced for setting forest blazes
Source: Reuters
By Laura Zuckerman SALMON, Idaho, Nov 21 (Reuters) - A former U.S. firefighter was ordered on Tuesday to undergo a mental evaluation and serve six months at a state corrections facility for setting three wildfires on public lands over the last three years. Levi Miller, 22, of Salmon, Idaho, could face up to 10 years in state prison depending on results of the psychological tests and his conduct at the corrections center, according to the sentence handed down by Judge James Herndon of Idaho's 7th Judicial District. "With the number of fires you're involved with, there might be some psychological reason you like doing that," Herndon told Miller during his sentencing. Miller, a firefighter for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, cried as he apologized to the court, noting he had caused pain to his family and fellow firefighters. Miller last month pleaded guilty to two counts of felony arson stemming from blazes he started in national forests in Idaho near the Montana border in 2003. In September, Miller confessed to paying a teen-age girl to start a fire Aug. 13 on the outskirts of Salmon so he could make more money. The Bureau of Land Management had paid him by the hour. Prosecutors are seeking $31,000 in restitution from Miller to pay for the cost of fighting the fires and for property damaged by the blazes. No injuries were caused by the fires. Miller is one of several firefighters embroiled in arson cases this year. A volunteer firefighter in Michigan on Nov. 1 admitted to igniting a string of blazes -- including two at her mother's house -- that she then helped fight. On Oct. 31 the former head of an elite U.S. Forest Service fire crew pleaded guilty to setting timber aflame in a national forest in Arizona in 2004. Fire investigators say firefighters who commit arson often cite money and the thrill of fighting fires as reasons why some commit arson. "A lot of times with firefighters, it's an excuse to get a paycheck or it's been really quiet, they haven't had any fires, and they'll start a fire so they have something to do," Terry Edwards, deputy state fire marshal in Idaho, told Reuters in a recent interview. (Reporting by Laura Zuckerman in Salmon, Idaho)
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