A volunteer firefighter in eastern Texas is facing charges related to multiple suspicious fires over the span of a year.
KTLV News reports that Hainesville volunteer firefighter Courtney Dwaine Keel, 44, of Mineola, was arrested on Tuesday and charged with eight counts of arson in a sting of fires, the first set in July 2020 and the most recent in September of this year. Keel posted a $200,000 bond after his arrest.
Wood County Fire Marshall Tully Davidson had located a flare after an August brush fire and believed it was a possible arson. Flares had also been found at two grass fires in August of last year, according to the arrest affidavit. Davidson grew suspicious of Keel when the firefighter told him he was worried that his fingerprints may be on the flares because “his uncle” had stolen flares from him and “was a bad man," according to the affidavit.
Chief Robert Holland of the Wood County Sheriff’s Office began looking into the fires and found that Keel’s residence was within 1.5 to 2 miles from all the suspicious fires and that he was the only firefighter who had responded to all of them.
