OLD ORCHARD BEACH (AP) — A former fire department chief in Maine will spend a year in prison for setting fire to a large marsh area.
Sixty-one-year-old Ricky Plummer, former fire chief in Old Orchard Beach, was sentenced Wednesday after pleading guilty in October to setting a fire that spread to more than 40 acres in the town in April 2016.
Plummer’s plea deal says he will also serve four years of probation, during which he will undergo a psychological evaluation and not be allowed to possess an incendiary device.
He apologized Wednesday, but didn’t offer an explanation for the fire. Authorities previously said Plummer told a forest ranger he was in the area to smoke a cigarette, but no one has been able to verify he was a smoker.
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