BEDFORD, Ky. (AP) -- State police have charged a Trimble County volunteer firefighter with setting fire to Bedford's firehouse.
John Adam Blackaby, 21, is charged with second-degree arson, said Trooper Greg Larimore, a spokesman for state police in Campbellsburg. He was arrested at 7:15 p.m. EST Thursday. No one was in the building when the fire started.
The building that housed Bedford's volunteer fire department was a total loss, Larimore said. The department lost a firefighting vehicle and an ambulance in the fire, which began around 2:20 p.m., he said.
Larimore declined to comment on Blackaby's possible motives. Blackaby was lodged in the Carroll County Jail Thursday night. He did not know how long Blackaby had been a member of the city's all-volunteer force.
Larimore said one firefighter was injured while fighting the blaze, but he was treated and released from a local hospital.
The Bedford fire was the second at a Kentucky fire house in two days. Four fire trucks and a building were destroyed in a blaze early Wednesday in southeastern Kentucky.
Chief James Jones of the North McCreary Volunteer Fire Department at Wiborg near Whitley City said he discovered the fire in the large metal building that also was used for community meetings, shortly before 4 a.m. EST.
``It's a loss to the whole community,'' he said.
Jones said he was in the department's other building and saw flames reflected in the window of a house near the fire station. He called for help and began fighting the flames with a truck from the building that was not on fire. But the blaze had engulfed the inside of the structure.
State police and the state fire marshal were investigating, Jones said, but he thought an electrical problem caused the fire.
The department still has a pumper truck and two tankers, so it can provide fire protection, he said.
Jones estimated the loss at $200,000 to $300,000. The department has insurance that probably will cover the cost of replacing the 12-year-old building, but it won't be enough money to replace the building and the trucks, he said.
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