By FireRescue1 Staff
MEDIA, Pa. — A 19-year-old firefighter was sentenced to five to 23 months in prison after pleading guilty to intentionally starting a fire inside a firehouse.
Daily Times News reported that Javier McMillan, who worked at Parkside Fire Company, was arrested in June for starting the April fire inside the firehouse. There were three people in the station at the time of the fire, including McMillan. An investigation later determined that the fire was intentionally started using a chair’s fabric.
“As part of the investigation, the chair from the fire scene was taken and test burns were conducted,” according to the affidavit. “The test showed the fire was started with an open flame applied to the chair fabric and would have reached the temperature needed to activate the sprinkler heads in less than two minutes. The lack of smoke damage in the room was the result of the quick activation of the sprinkler system. The test also showed the person responsible for starting the fire would have had little time to leave the building prior to the alarm activation.”
The department was out of service for two days after the fire; total damages were estimated at about $225,000.
In addition to McMillan’s prison time, a judge ordered him to serve three years of probation, to stay away from the firehouse and to provide a DNA sample to state police. He was also ordered to comply with a psychological evaluation.