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Parma Volunteer Firefighter Sentenced on Six Counts of Arson on Public Lands
Clyde Dewayne Holmes, Jr., 23, a Parma resident and former volunteer for the Parma Fire Department, will serve 72 months in federal prison for six felony counts of illegally setting fires on public land, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced. Holmes was sentenced yesterday by Chief U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill, who also ordered Holmes to serve three years of supervised release after Holmes completes his prison term. Holmes was ordered to pay $155,881.36 in restitution costs to the Bureau of Land Management and Parma Rural Fire Protection for firefighting costs and to the Parma Rod and Gun Club for damages that occurred to their property during one of the fires. This was notably the first federal jury trial, conviction and sentencing of an arsonist on BLM lands in Idaho.
Holmes was found guilty of arson by a federal jury in January 2009. The six different fires burned approximately 1,200 acres of private and public lands in Payette and Canyon Counties during July and August 2007. Testimony during the four-day trial linked Holmes to the fires through physical evidence, including tire and boot prints, statements of eye witnesses, and cell phone and employment records. Investigators determined that each day a fire was ignited, it happened shortly after the defendant got off work in Parma. They later learned that the defendant was the person who actually reported two of the fires, although he did not identify himself by name or mention that he was a volunteer member of the Parma fire department, which would respond to the scene.
“We are surrounded by public lands, many acres of which are arid. Cheatgrass is everywhere. It is a fuel that creates dangerous summer conditions. Even lawfully minded citizens need to be careful of setting accidental fires,” said United States Attorney Tom Moss. “But this case is especially reprehensible because it involved a deliberate action by a person who was trained and trusted to protect our public lands and our citizens.”
The U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Bureau of Land Management were assisted in the Holmes investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation Crime Laboratory, the U.S. Marshals Service, Canyon County Sheriff’s Office, Payette County Sheriff’s Office, and Middleton Fire Department.
“Firefighters at all levels, Federal, State and local, are trained and aware of the dangers, but they shouldn’t have to be unnecessarily exposed to the risk. Idaho’s public lands have enough natural fire activity as it is,” said BLM Special Agent in Charge Loren Good. “We actively investigate anyone who intentionally sets fire to public lands and then work with our partners at the United States Attorney’s Office to see that they get prosecuted.” Good added.
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