By Mike Tolson and Allan Turner
Houston Chronicle
CLOVERLEAF, Texas — Bored by the lack of action on their graveyard shifts, local firefighters Jason Southard and Marvin Romero allegedly took matters into their own hands in the spring and summer of 2006, setting fire to seven vacant homes in Cloverleaf and Channelview in east Harris County.
The two former volunteers with the Cloverleaf Volunteer Fire Department have been charged with arson and arson with bodily injury by the Harris County District Attorney’s Office. The latter is a first-degree felony punishable by a sentence of 5 to 99 years.
The two were suspended in 2006.
“There were a number of fires of unoccupied buildings at the same time of day and in close proximity, and it began to look very suspicious,” said Assistant District Attorney Lester Blizzard.
Southard, 23, remained in Harris County Jail on Wednesday with bail set at $40,000. Romero, 26, had not yet been arrested.
The bodily injury charge stems from a May 16, 2006, fire at a single-story home at Cloverleaf and Longview. Maurice Davis, a part-time Jacinto City firefighter, suffered minor burns to his ears while fighting the blaze. Davis said Wednesday that he has been instructed not to comment about the fire or the actions of Southard and Romero.
Arson investigators with the Harris County Fire Marshal’s office began looking at the two after other firefighters raised questions about their activities.
Investigators said Southard confessed his participation and cooperated with authorities, even placing a phone call to Romero that was recorded.
“There was obviously no intent to hurt or harm anyone,” said Southard’s attorney, Donald Ervin. “You had some kids sitting around the station wanting to put out fires. It’s kind of a childish thing to do, but it’s a serious case.”
Ervin said Southard has no previous criminal record or activity and had been recognized as rookie of the year and firefighter of the year by the Cloverleaf department in 2004 and 2005, respectively.
“He wanted to be a firefighter all his life,” Ervin said. “He’s a nice, intelligent kid from a good family. This is one of these things that’s just hard to figure other than as an immature act.”
Southard had attended San Jacinto College and received his basic Texas firefighter certification in 2006, his lawyer said.
Romero has two previous theft convictions, one of them for stealing equipment from another fire department where he served. The second conviction brought a 10-month state jail sentence.
‘Sheer boredom’
Cloverleaf Fire Department Chief Michael Battise could not be reached for comment. At the time they were suspended in 2006, he said he was “angry ... shocked and surprised” by the allegations.
“Especially after giving (Romero) a second chance,” Battise said. "(Southard) had too many things going for him to even think about doing something like this.”
Arson investigators with the Fire Marshal’s Office did not return calls for comment. Last year, investigator Jerrel Dawkins said the fires were the result of people simply having too much time on their hands.
“It just appears as if someone is looking for something to do,” Dawkins said. “Sheer boredom.”
The scars of last year’s arsons still blight the Cloverleaf neighborhood, where residents recalled how the mysterious fires heightened their concerns about neighborhood crime.
“There are a lot of messy kids in the neighborhood,” said Eva Uribe, whose family lives in the 800 block of Manor, scene of a roaring residential fire on April 7, 2006. “We just thought the kids had done it. My dad built a higher fence around our house because of the crime. A lot of people are doing that.”
Jo Anne Alsbrooks, who lives in the 14700 block of Kenny, said her children renewed efforts to get her to leave her home of 50 years after a neighboring house erupted in flame on May 28, 2006.
“It was about 11 p.m. and I was in bed,” she said, “when the people across the street banged on the door and yelled, ‘House fire, go out, go out!’ ”
Alsbrooks watched the blaze from a nearby corner after moving her car to safety.
The neighboring house had been vacant about a week when it burned, she said.
Today the heavily damaged house stands empty, its windows covered with plywood.
Similar earlier cases
Just blocks away, in the 14500 block of Lemay, workers Wednesday demolished a house that burned on July 12, 2006.
Larry Kirkwood of Store Fixtures USA, the current owner of the property, said the residence had been used as offices by a maker of oil field machinery. The company had gone out of business and the house was vacant at the time of the blaze.
Local firefighters have been accused before of making work for themselves.
In 2005, a firefighter with the Cy-Fair Volunteer Fire Department was charged with setting seven fires that he helped put out. Just a week earlier, another Cy-Fair volunteer had been accused of setting four grass fires.
A firefighter with the Alvin Volunteer Fire Department was charged in 2004 with setting fire to an abandoned house.
Copyright 2007 The Houston Chronicle