A UK man has been given a suspended prison sentence after admitting to setting fire to his own home twice in one night just so he could see firefighters in action.
Arsonists are obsessed with fire, but 26-year-old James Brown, from Northumberland, in the UK, has been described as having an obsession and a fascination with firefighters rather than fires. In an ideal world, he would be a firefighter himself, but things didn’t work out that way, so he just settled for admiring firefighters from a distance and calling the fire department incessantly. When that wasn’t enough anymore, he moved on to setting his own house on fire just to see the firefighters in action.
Photo: Unsplash
On the evening of September 9, 2023, the fire brigade was sent to a home on Eleventh Avenue, in Ashington, after the owner called emergency services to report a fire. He said sparks were coming from the electricity meter, and some of his textile bed linens in a cutboard had caught fire. Firefighters ended up putting out a small fire and disconnecting the electricity supply, just to be sure. Only 90 minutes later, Brown once again called the fire brigade to report another fire.
The second time, firefighters had to once again put out bedding that had caught fire, only when they asked the homeowner about the cause of the fire, he once again blamed the electricity meter. This didn’t make sense because the electricity to the house had been disconnected by the firefighters, so they started to suspect that the fire had been started deliberately.
According to court records, James Brown filmed the firefighters as they rushed to put out the fire and seemed quite enthusiastic by their presence on his property. A simple background check showed that the 26-year-old man had called the fire department 80 times in the previous 12 months, and Brown himself eventually pleaded guilty to two counts of arson while being reckless as to whether life was endangered.
Photo: Unsplash
“You have said, in an ideal world, you would be a firefighter, and you have a long-standing interest in the fire service. It’s clearly an obsession,” Judge Robert Adams recently said during his ruling. “Your primary interest seems to be contacting the fire service rather than setting fires. “You waste the resources of the fire brigade, which could be used for more important matters where lives are in danger. I hope you have learned a lesson.”
Last month, James Brown was sentenced to eight months’ suspended sentence for two years with 150 hours of unpaid work for his 2023 crimes. His lawyer said that he is “extremely remorseful” and is currently seeking help for his obsession. He has refrained from contacting the fire department since his arrest.
0 Comments