Volunteer firefighter charged with setting 2 more fires
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A volunteer firefighter from the Upper Peninsula has been charged with two more counts of felony arson after investigators uncovered evidence that he was allegedly involved in more fires.
Joseph Halder was arrested on Nov. 11, 2023, for allegedly setting fire to a vacant building in Paradise, Michigan. Halder had started working with the Whitefish Township Fire Department as a volunteer firefighter a few months earlier and was fighting the fire when the Chippewa County Sheriff’s Office started their investigation.
Sheriff Mike Bitnar told 9&10 News that he reviewed surveillance footage from a gas station across the street, which ultimately led to Halder’s arrest.
The two new charges are related to other fires set in Paradise, one on Oct. 5, 2023, and the other on Nov. 5, 2023.
Halder was arrested on the new charges on Wednesday. His bond was raised from $200,000 to $350,000.
“Chippewa County has amazing first responders, EMS and firefighters. This does not represent the overall volunteer group we have in our county,” Halder told 9&10 News last November. “Then again, if there is somebody posing in amongst those who are there to do good, you have to get those people out.”
Halder was charged with one count of third-degree arson for the Nov. 11 fire. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $20,000. The Chippewa County Sheriff’s Office did not provide the exact arson charges filed for the other two fires, labeling them only as felonies.
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