A firefighter admitted to setting a fellow firefighter's house on fire, police said Monday.
Around 11:45 p.m., Sunday Terrebonne Parish Sheriff's deputies said they received a 911 call about a residential fire.
When deputies said they arrived at the scene, everyone made it out of the home without any injuries. The owner of the home is firefighter Whyley Pellegrin and his wife. Pellegrin's home is next door to the Little Caillou Fire Department. Pellegrin said when his home was in flames, he ran next door to alert the on-call firefighters to extinguish the fire.
Detectives and the Louisiana State Fire Marshall's investigators said that the fire was set intentionally and that it was actually started in the shed, which is located next to the Pellegrin's home. Investigators said the fire spread from the shed to the house.
During the investigation, police said 21-year-old Jesse Patrick Marcel, a firefighter at Little Caillou Fire Department, was named as a suspect. Marcel was an on-call firefighter at the time of the incident. Detectives said they questioned Marcel after taking him to the sheriff's office, where police said he confessed to intentionally setting the fire.
Marcel said he never meant for the fire to get out of control. Police said after Marcel allegedly started the fire he went to bed without telling Pellegrin.
Detectives arrested Jesse Patrick Marcel for aggravated arson. Marcel is in the Terrebonne Parish Jail on a $1 million bond. If Marcel is convicted he could serve up to 20 years in prison.
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