WHITEFISH TOWNSHIP, Mich. – A Michigan firefighter has been accused of arson after he was caught actively fighting a fire that he started, officials said.
Officials in Chippewa County said they were called to a fire Saturday evening, Nov. 11, in Whitefish Township. It was the third fire in the area over the past few months, according to authorities.
Deputies said they watched surveillance video from a gas station across the road and identified Joseph Carl Halder, 35, as the person who set the building on fire, according to WOOD-TV.
Halder is a volunteer firefighter from the Upper Peninsula who had been working with the Whitefish Township Fire Department for months, WOOD-TV reports.
He was arrested while fighting the fire and taken to the Chippewa County Correctional Facility, officials said. He’s being held on $200,000 bond.
Halder was arraigned Monday at 91st District Court on a charge of third-degree arson. He could face up to 10 years in prison, if convicted.
WOOD-TV reports he is also a person of interest in the two other nearby fires.
