Area man arrested for igniting field fires

Home City News Area man arrested for igniting field fires

Norman James Goodwin was arrested for resisting and obstructing a firefighter and a deputy on Nov. 11.

The 71-year-old man lit three separate fires over a nearly 10-mile radius, using diesel fuel as an accelerant and car tires that he found on the side of the road.

He was driving around the county in a blue pickup truck with a pump that he used to spray the fuel across dead grass on his and his mother’s property.

“Starting grass fires is a pretty common way to kill off dead grass in the spring to promote new growth,” said prosecuting attorney Neal Brady. “But this was in the fall, and usually you contain it to a small area that can be controlled by natural boundaries.”

Starting grassfires with diesel fuel tires is unsafe, bad for fields, and bad for the environment. Burning tires is also illegal, Brady said.

Goodwin didn’t have any way to contain the three fires he started — one of which was close to an unoccupied house — and couldn’t have known if they were going to burn onto others’ property, Brady said.

In the official report, Assistant Fire Chief of Jefferson Township Marcus Jones said he was given permission by the defendant’s son to go out onto the fields to look for Goodwin. There they found Goodwin next to his blue pickup truck with a bucket of beer cans. He was under the influence of alcohol at the time.

When they approached the truck, Goodwin dropped the bucket, grabbed the nozzle connected to the pump of diesel fuel and pointed it at the firefighters, saying that he was doing nothing wrong, refusing to answer if he owned the property, and denying that he started the fires.

Then he became aggressive, pushing firefighters, telling them to leave his property, Brady said.  Goodwin then grabbed a firefighter by the arm. When deputies from the Sheriff’s Department arrived, he physically resisted them.

“According to the officer, this guy is an old farmer, strong,” Brady said. “They had a hard time taking him down and getting him handcuffed.”

The way Goodwin went about burning his fields was a misdemeanor in and of itself, but the charges filed against him are felonies.

“The firefighters could have given him a ticket right there and he’d have to pay a fine,” Brady said.  “But because he decided to get aggressive, he got charged with these felonies.”

    vcooney@hillsdale.edu