By Muri Assunção
New York Daily News
HOLLAND, Iowa — A 60-year-old firefighter accused of setting “a string of arson fires” in northern Iowa has been arrested on 13 counts of arson and one count of reckless use of fire or explosives, authorities said Friday.
Kendall Rhoads, of Grundy Center, is accused of setting a series of fires in ditches next to corn fields, as well as “some buildings on abandoned properties,” the Grundy County Sheriff’s Office said in a Friday news release.
After setting the fires, he would “respond with the fire department and assist in putting the fires out,” authorities said.
Rhoads, who has been with the fire department in the neighboring community of Holland for the past six years, was arrested on Thursday following a five-month investigation into the fires.
At least one of the fires allegedly set by the suspect is believed to have resulted in an abandoned barn and power lines catching fire, according to the Iowan newspaper Times-Republican. However, most of the incidents didn’t seem to have caused much damage.
Rhoads, described by the paper as a “volunteer firefighter,” remains in the Grundy County Jail in lieu of bond, authorities said Friday.
The investigation is still ongoing, and officials are encouraging anyone with additional information to contact the sheriff’s office.
“This case could not have been solved without the help of the public,” the sheriff’s office said.
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