Ex-War WV Firefighters Indicted on Arson Charges

WELCH, WV—Four former War-area firefighters who were arrested last January and charged with allegedly setting fire to unoccupied buildings just for excitement have been indicted by the McDowell County Grand Jury.

Michael Ray Click, 28, of Marion, VA; Cody Shane Patterson, 26, of Warriormine; Brandon Lee Short, 22, of Davy; and James Michael Stutso, 40, of War, were all indicted on charges of first-degree arson and felony conspiracy, according to the indictments list released Thursday by the grand jury.

RELATED: Four WV Firefighters Charged with Arson

All four men, who were firefighters with the War Volunteer Fire Department at that time, allegedly started fires so they could go out on fire calls, investigators with the West Virginia State Fire Marshal said when the suspects were arraigned in McDowell County Magistrate Court.

The suspects were allegedly setting fires “for the excitement of it,” the investigating officer, Assistant State Fire Marshal L.T. Hamrick, said after the arraignment. He stated that the burned structures were “unoccupied and uninsured.”

“The guys were all bored and wanted a call to go on,” Hamrick said then.

An official with the War department, who asked that his name not be used, said Thursday that the four men were no longer with the fire department.

An investigation started after the State Fire Marshal’s Office called to a vacant apartment fire in War on Oct. 31, 2018, where it was determined that the blaze was incendiary in cause, according to the Fire Marshal’s press release.

“The fire had started in the upstairs area of the apartment building and had then spread to five other buildings,” officials with the State Fire Marshal said after the arrests. “Investigators then determined that three other fires in the War area had been intentionally set in the previous months, and that they were all connected to the same individuals.”

According to the Fire Marshal’s office and criminal complaints filed at the McDowell County Magistrate Clerk’s Office, the suspicious fires and charges include:

An Aug. 12, 2018 fire set to a vacant two-story structure, the Moyer Martin Building. “It is believed that all four of the individuals charged participated in setting fire to this building,” the Fire Marshal’s release stated.
A Sept. 2, 2018 fire of a vacant home; Michael Click is charged with this fire.
An Oct. 29, 2018 fire of the vacant two-story structure, the Moye Martin Building, from the Aug. 12 incident, which was again set on fire; Cody Patterson and Click are charged with this fire. Click entered a first-floor apartment where he used a road flare to ignite a fire inside of a basket. Click and Patterson then returned to War “where they waited on the fire department to be paged out,” according to the criminal complaint.
The Oct. 31, 2018 apartment fire in War, which started the investigation; Click is charged in this fire.

Assistant State Fire Marshal Ryan McFarland said there have been other cases across the nation of firefighters committing arson just to answer alarms.

In West Virginia, first-degree arson carries a possible term of two to 20 years in prison. Felony conspiracy has a term of one to five years in prison.

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