Tale Of Two Firefighters
As a child, Leonard Gregg enjoyed watching slurry bombers attack wildfires and wanted to become a firefighter. As an adult, he achieved his goal.
Now the part-time firefighter is accused of setting a blaze that later combined with another to form the largest wildfire in Arizona history. Prosecutors said Gregg, 29, did it to earn money as part of a fire crew.
Wilson Gregg, the suspect's 41-year-old brother by adoption, said Monday that his younger brother was fascinated by flames and would imitate slurry bombers as a child.
"He put boxes in a line and would pretend he was dropping slurry on those boxes," Wilson Gregg, also a part-time firefighter, said as he sat on a fence post outside his home, with white ash drifting down on him.
Leonard Gregg had once spread a cooking fire across the family's yard when he was about 4 years old, his brother said. "You know how little kids are, they like to play with fire," he said.
Leonard Gregg was unemployed before the wildfire, but would give any money he had to his girlfriend and her six children, his brother said. Authorities said he made $8 an hour fighting fires.
"His dream's cut short now because of the financial crunch in his household," said Wilson Gregg. "He probably thought no one would catch him."
The 467,580-acre blaze has consumed at least 423 homes but was about 70 percent contained Monday. The fire is expected to be fully contained by July 7, fire information officer Jim Whittington said.
Wilson Gregg said he didn't believe his younger brother understood the implications of what he had done.
Some residents of the White Mountain Apache reservation were reluctant to say anything about Leonard Gregg or his family. Some said they were concerned about what the family would think if they talked.
Others said they were angered that one of their own was accused in the fire, which destroyed a large swatch of the ponderosa pines that are a major part of the White Mountain Apaches' economy.
"It's devastating," said Travis Duryea, one of Leonard Gregg's neighbors. "That was our bread and butter."
If convicted of both counts of willfully setting fire to timber or underbrush, Gregg could face 10 years in prison and be fined $500,000. A court hearing has been scheduled for Wednesday.
Gregg is the second person employed to fight wildfires who is accused of setting blazes during one of the country's most destructive fire seasons. In Colorado, Terry Barton, a former U.S. Forest Service employee, was charged last month with setting the fire about 40 miles southwest of Denver that has burned about 137,760 acres. She has pleaded not guilty.
Gregg had not been assigned to a public defender as of Monday.
Meanwhile, fire officials met with local authorities Monday to discuss a timetable for allowing 3,500 to 4,000 evacuees to return to their homes. About 25,000 people already had been allowed to return to Show Low and some nearby towns during the weekend.
Fire information officer Tim Buxton said it would be at least a few more days before the remaining evacuees were allowed to go back.
According to the National Interagency Fire Center, major fires Still active in eight Western states have so far charred nearly 1 million acres.
Here is a look at some other fire-related developments:
The wind-whipped fire in rough terrain has grown to 6,850 acres and is only 10 percent contained, down from 35 percent as of Sunday. Three houses and nine other buildings have been destroyed.
The latter was only 5 percent contained and is threatening about 100 structures near Wheatland in southeast Wyoming. Two abandoned cabins on gubernatorial candidate Ray Hunkins' Thunderhead Ranch were destroyed, but firefighters were able to save 14 other structures in the area.