[Marcmedic]

It happens a lot more often than you think. We've had several in some of the rural areas around here. Typically they set the fire in their own area so they can get on the truck and put it out. Usually done in unoccupied structures. Seeing that their equipment was already out on a fire leads me to believe that someone from the the next due mutual aid entity is possibly the arsonist. There is no sense to destroying your own firehouse just to get a fire. But someone from a neighboring FD would probably get off on saving another towns station. This happens mainly in small, rural fire departments with a really low call volume. Some people get into this line of work for the "hero" factor. They usually start the fire with the thought that they can easily put it out. But more times than not it gets out of hand too quickly. Most volunteers respond directly to the scene of the fire in their own vehicle once they hear that the engine has already responded. 10 bucks says it's a volunteer from a nearby department, and he was the first or second person on the scene in his POV.