Firefighter Pleads Guilty to US Tyre Fire

A volunteer firefighter’s scheme to earn some extra pocket money has ended with a guilty plea in a US federal court. At a court hearing in Greenville, North Carolina on January 12, firefighter Daniel Scott and associate Michael Clamp pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting arson.

The charges relate to a September 2009 fire at a Carolina Tire Sales warehouse. According to the prosecution, the men lit the fire so that Scott could earn some extra money through his firefighting duties. Scott is said to have climbed into the warehouse through a broken window, splashed a flammable liquid on some tyres and started the fire. Some 30,000 tyres were inside the warehouse and the ensuing fire burned for four days. Around 150 of Scott’s more scrupulous colleagues were utilised to battle the blaze.

A third accomplice, Richard Turner, pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting arson in October 2010. The three men have yet to be sentenced.