November 12, 1981

Fireman jailed on arson count

       Arson charges were filed today against a White River Township Fire Department volunteer in connection with a fire he helped to extinguish in a mobile home Oct. 29 west of Greenwood. The volunteer, Douglas Chambers, 22, owned the mobile home damaged by the fire in the Wheel Estates South mobile home park on County Line Road, authorities said. Chambers will appear in Johnson County Superior Court. The arson charges were filed in the Johnson County Prosecutor’s Office by Robert Dean, a Deputy State Fire Marshal. Ron Taylor, another Deputy Fire Marshal, received a tip an investigator in the Fire Marshal’s office was involved in the blaze. Taylor said the tip was inaccurate but while investigating the fire he discovered the blaze had been set. White River investigators had reported the cause accidental. Taylor said it was difficult to determine the fire was set. He did not elaborate in what was used to set the fire in the living room and kitchen. Materials have been sent to a laboratory for testing. Bond for Chambers, a volunteer five years, was set at $15,000 bond. He was jailed in Franklin.  See a related story HERE.  (Reprinted with permission from the Daily Journal)

 

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