Tyler

By KENNETH DEAN
Staff Writer

He has not only been responding to fires posing as a firefighter wearing full bunker gear, officials say, but has even pulled people over acting as a police officer.

The latest incident landed the suspended 17-year-old Tyler Fire Explorer in the Smith County Jail on Christmas Eve for carrying a switchblade knife to a house fire.

Smith County Assistant Fire Marshal Oren Hale said he arrested Austin Harden, of Flint, at the scene of a fire on Old Jacksonville Highway late Monday evening on the charge of carrying a prohibited weapon. But firefighters on the scene wanted Smith County Sheriff's deputies to arrest Harden for theft of bunker gear - bunker gear they stripped off the alleged posing firefighter and reclaimed on the side of the road.

POSING AS A COP

According to Smith County judicial records, Harden was arrested in August by the Smith County Sheriff's Department for impersonating a public servant.

Lt. Larry Wiginton said the case against Harden began after two women called his department to report they were pulled over by the teenager.

Wiginton said one of the women believed Harden had threatened to take a child to jail.

"When we arrested him, we found a radio from Coffee City, a jump suit from the Flint-Gresham Fire Department and some fire bunker gear from somewhere, handcuffs and a portable red flashing light," he said. "We never found who the bunker gear belonged to so we gave it to his mother."

However, Hale said the gear belonged to the Noonday Volunteer Fire Department, and they declined to file charges if Harden would simply return the gear.

"That was more than three months ago and I guess he just hadn't found the time to drop it by yet," Hale said.

Wiginton said he did not know if there were other incidents where Harden pulled over or attempted to pull over people.

A FAKE FIREFIGHTER?

Hale and Fire Marshal Jim Seaton said they found Harden's actions troubling because citizens trust the people arriving at a fire or pulling them over is really a firefighter or a police officer.

"This put the public in jeopardy, because citizens trust officers and firefighters," Seaton said. "It happens, but thank goodness it doesn't happen here very often."

Hale said Harden had been a junior firefighter in Flint, but was asked to leave the department for reasons unknown. He also added that Harden was too young to be an active firefighter, because the state law mandates the minimum age of 18 for all firefighters.

Hale said Harden beat firefighters to the house fire Monday night and was standing in front of the home wearing the bunker gear.

"When the firefighters arrived they knew who he was and told him to get out of the way," he said.

Hale said he found Harden being at the scene before firefighters "upsetting and a little suspicious."

"I am not making any assumptions, but it worries me a bit that he was at the fire before firefighters and that he has been at other fires," he said.

FIRE EXPLORERS

Tyler Fire Capt. Jeff Akin, the department's public information officer, said the news was unsettling, but added Harden had been suspended from the program months ago.

The Fire Explorer Program is for teenagers interested in serving in the fire industry as adults. Akin said Exploring offers experiential learning with lots of fun-filled, hands-on activities that promote the growth and development of adolescent youth.

He said certain requirements must be made for a teen to be admitted in the program and then rules must be followed.

"We've got rules to go by and he broke those rules and now he has to pay the price," he said.

Akin said the program has never encountered any problems and the news of Harden's legal troubles didn't bode well for the program.

"We have never had this happen before and our kids are usually all top notch," he said.

Hale said the investigation into the Monday night fire was continuing, and that Harden still must face charges.

Austin Harden
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