Volunteer firefighter set fire to a house twice
Andrew Dys, The Herald (Rock Hill, SC)
(MCT)
April 3 – LANCASTER, SC – Lancaster, SC
A volunteer firefighter in Lancaster County is charged with three counts of arson after authorities say he intentionally set fire to one house twice and caused damage to another house.
Quentin Lee Belton, 31, a firefighter for the Gooches Volunteer Fire Department, was arrested on Friday after the most recent fire on Wednesday night, said Doug Barfield, spokesman for the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office.
Belton set fire to an empty house on First Street in Lancaster on Wednesday after setting the house on fire for the first time in December, Barfield said.
No injuries were reported. In the fire on Wednesday night, a neighboring house was damaged, Barfield said.
Belton, who has relatives living near the fire site, was arrested after an investigation by the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office, the arson team at the State Law Enforcement Division and the Lancaster County Fire Department.
Belton is charged with one second-degree arson charge and two third-degree arson charges. All charges are crimes under South Carolina law. He faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted on all three charges, state law shows.
In December, Belton alerted passersby about the fire. He was alone in the Gooches fire department on Wednesday, just before the second fire broke out, officials said.
He was investigated after both fires, said Lancaster County Sheriff Barry Faile and Darren Player, Lancaster County Fire and Rescue Director.
Authorities found enough evidence after Wednesday’s fire to blame him for the two fires, Faile and Player said.
The Gooches department serves the areas south and west of Lancaster to the York County line.
The volunteer firefighters are registered with the South Carolina fire department, Player said. On Friday, Lancaster County officials removed Belton’s registration from the fire service, meaning that Belton cannot serve until he is registered, Player said.
Belton remains in Lancaster County prison on $ 20,000 bail after a first court appearance on Friday.
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