The Knoxville News-Sentinel (Tennessee)
JACKSBORO, Tenn. — Two part-time Jacksboro firefighters have been charged with setting an abandoned house on fire a block from the city fire department while on duty.
James Billy Williford, 35, of LaFollette, Tenn., and Joseph A. “Joey” Johnson, 27, of Jacksboro are charged in a five-count indictment with arson and official misconduct.
A Campbell County grand jury returned the indictment last week. They were arrested Friday and released on $10,000 bond.
The two, who were the only firefighters on duty, are accused of driving a Jacksboro Fire Department pickup truck a block from city hall to the house at about 8:30 p.m. on Oct. 5.
They set the house on fire and were dispatched to help fight the blaze, Jacksboro City Police Department Chief Danny Chapman said Monday.
While Chapman declined to say what the two allegedly used to start the fire, he said witnesses reported them to police.
The house was owned by the city and was going to be razed for a children’s park, Chapman said.
“We were going to use it as a training prop later this year,” Fire Chief Jason Shetterly said.
He said no one was hurt fighting the fire.
Williford had been an auxiliary Jacksboro firefighter for about four years and Johnson for about a year to 18 months, Shetterly said. Both have been suspended.
Williford is a full-time firefighter for the LaFollette Fire Department and has been suspended from those duties as well.