Four Houston County, Tenn. firefighters were arrested on July 22 in connection to arson fires that were set earlier this year -- including one that destroyed their own fire station.
Jeremy Mackens, 19, and Robert Taylor Richardson, 20, were charged in all nine blazes that occurred between March 21 and July 19 while Michael Brooks and Daryl Buttons, both 20 year old, were charged in only the first fire set at a barn, according to The Stewart Houston Times
Makens and Richardson were held in Houston County Jail on bonds of $90,000 each while Brooks and Buttons were freed on bonds of $500 and $1,000 respectively.
Each of the suspects had been with the department for about two years.
The biggest fire that Makens and Richardson were connected to occurred at their own department's fire station in McKinnon, which destroyed the structure and two fire trucks on March 28 and caused damages exceeding $100,000.
Houston County Fire Chief David Hardin said addressed the entire department after the arrests were made public and said that the firefighters were "extremely let down" after learning that fellow firefighters set the blazes.
"It's like being kicked in the gut," he told the newspaper. "We know it's a mark on (the department) which we'll work to overcome. We still have a lot of excellent people working for us."
He said that he has talked to the young men and that they are "very remorseful and haven't quite grasped the seriousness of what they did."
Houston County Sheriff Darrell Allison said all four suspects are well-known in the community and that they were either first to respond or one of the first to respond to several of the fires.
