Utah Firefighter Gets Jail for Setting Blazes

Oct. 3, 2012
Elk Ridge Firefighter Kade Johnson was sentenced Monday for the fires started in June and July.

PROVO, Utah -- An 18-year-old volunteer firefighter from Elk Ridge has been ordered to serve 180 days in jail after he was convicted of setting fires in central Utah this summer.

Kade Johnson was sentenced Monday for the fires started in June and July.

He's getting credit for 90 days already served and likely has only three more months behind bars, the Daily Herald reported.

Utah County officials say six fires were set in Loafer Canyon between Elk Ridge and Woodland Hills between June 25 and July 2. Johnson was charged for three of them.

The fires were small and quickly extinguished. Defense attorney Barbara Gonzales said her client liked the praise he got when he extinguished fires so he kept starting them. She also said he suffers from ADHD.

Copyright 2012 The Deseret News Publishing Co.

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