WAFB
BOGALUSA, La. — A volunteer firefighter has been arrested on arson and hate crime charges after allegedly getting someone to set two mobile homes on fire about a year-and-a-half ago.
The state fire marshal says 65-year-old Douglas McDaniel of Bogalusa was arrested Thursday after a tip that he had commissioned the setting of the fires. One of the homes was being lived in at the time, but the other was vacant. Reports indicate they were next to one another and not far from where McDaniel lives.
McDaniel was a volunteer firefighter with Washington Parish Fire District #7 when the fires were set. He has been charged with two counts of simple arson and one count of hate crime. According to a news release, State Fire Marshal Butch Browning wouldn’t elaborate on the hate crime charge, but said it was relevant to the motive behind one of the fires.
Full story: Suspicious circumstances led firefighters to call in arson investigators