Firefighter Trainee Accused of Setting Fires in Abandoned Homes

A firefighter trainee was charged with arson after the Cook County Sheriff’s Police found that he set vacant Ford Heights homes on fire, according to a sheriff’s department release.

Kaumain Allen, 19, of Ford Heights, was charged Wednesday with three counts of arson. A Sheriff’s Police patrol officer conducting a premise check on Monday at an abandoned house found Allen in the 900 block of E. 15th Street. He identified himself as a member of the Ford Heights Fire Department and told the officer he was there to retrieve fire department equipment left in the area.

It was then learned that the Fire Department did not send him there. Detectives found that Allen, who is a trainee with the Ford Heights Fire Department, set fire to three residences, two in the 1400 block of Congress Lane and one in the 1500 block of Congress Lane, and responded with the Ford Heights Fire Department to extinguish them.

Since October, 11 vacant home fires and two vehicle fires have been reported in Ford Heights. Sheriff Dart asks anyone with information about these fires to call Sheriff’s Police at 708-865- 4896.

Allen was due in court Thursday.