He volunteered to fight fires. Now KY man is charged with burning two houses.
A volunteer firefighter has been charged with deliberately setting fire to two houses in Lincoln County.
Kentucky State Police charged Jeffrey Tyler Knouse, 20, of Stanford, with two counts of second-degree arson, according to a news release.
The first fire was on April 12 at a house in Stanford on the same road listed as Knouse’s home address. The second was on May 10 in Waynesburg. Both houses were vacant, according to police.
Investigators determined that the fires were connected and had been set deliberately. Knouse responded to fight both fires, according to police.
Knouse confessed to setting the fires, according the arrest citation. He was being held Tuesday at the Lincoln County Regional Jail in lieu of $10,000 bond.
The charge against him is a Class B felony punishable by 10 to 20 years in prison.
Pat Alford, an arson investigator for state police, is handling the case and was assisted by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Lincoln County Fire Department.
This story was originally published May 18, 2020 at 4:07 PM.
