The summer of 2005 was a tough one for rancher Tom McCoy. Drought conditions scorched the area and hay was scarce. So when someone set fire to his Hill County ranch, the result was swift and destructive.

Around 250 bales of hay burned, costing $8,000 to replace. But worse, the fire came dangerously close to burning down his son's home nearby.

"When the hay got to burning they couldn't put it out. It was just burning," said McCoy.

Tom McCoy wasn't alone.

According to a report, a Whitney-area fire chief reported it was one of "over 15 fires" in that area that summer. Deputy Chip Hundley, then a certified arson investigator with the Sheriff's office, was convinced he was hunting an arsonist.

"Everything was just indicative of someone setting a fire," said Deputy Hundley.

There was a pattern. The fires happened at the same time of day, the same vehicle description was given by witnesses, and there was a suspicion from within FM 2604 Fire Department itself.

"A certain firefighter was showing up to every fire, would be at the station just before the fire would come out, the call would come out shortly minutes after," said Deputy Hundley.

Eric Thomas Campbell

That firefighter was Eric Thomas Campbell. "I wouldn't have thought a fireman would go around setting fires," said McCoy.

As Deputy Hundley investigated the case, he discovered Campbell was wanted on an unrelated warrant out of Kaufman County. He arrested Campbell on that warrant, using it as an opportunity to question Campbell about the fires.

"At that time he denied it," said Deputy Hundley.

But before Deputy Hundley completed his interviews with Campbell, a Kaufman deputy, apparently unaware of the arson investigation, picked Eric Campbell up and brought him back to Kaufman County.

The fires, Deputy Hundley says, stopped. He considered the problem solved. Eric Campbell was never charged in any Hill County fire.

You might think that would be the end of the story but Eric Campbell wasn't done with firefighting. A little more than a week after being questioned in the Hill County fires, he applied to the College Mound Volunteer Fire Department in Kaufman County.

"They make movies about people like this," said Rick King, College Mound Fire Department Board President.

The department's president tells us a background check "was" conducted, including a check of his old department. But both Hundley and Campbell's former chief say they were never contacted. Had that happened, the fire chief tells us quote, "I would not have recommended him."

And so, unaware of his history, the College Mound Volunteer Fire Department welcomed its newest member.

It was barely a month before one man, a long-time Kaufman County resident, got a late-night call.

"We got a phone call early in the morning, the house was on fire and we rushed up there, and sure enough it was fully engulfed," said Rick Carmona, victim of arson.

A vacant family home, inherited by his wife, was on fire. "We felt like someone who knew the place, knew no one was around," said Carmona.

During November and December of 2005, College Mound firefighters responded to six similar arson fires. Barns, hay bales, and vacant homes.

In a department where only a handful of firefighters might be able to respond to a call-out, the records show one rank-and-file firefighter responded to every one of those fires: Eric Campbell.

According to an e-mail, College Mound's fire chief got suspicious and went to the Kaufman County fire marshal. The chief dismissed Campbell after the fire marshal performed his initial investigation.

By early 2006 the fire marshal's office presented the case to the district attorney's office. But for months, nothing would happen to the case until in October of 2007 the new district attorney presented the case to the grand jury. They indicted Eric Thomas Campbell for arson.

The arson charge is for "one" of the fires. The strongest case was Rick Carmona's family home.

"You hear or read about these story but you never think it happens to you or that it's in your community," said Carmona.

Eric Campbell is set to enter a plea in this case next month. His attorney declined comment on his client's guilt or innocence. Again, while Campbell has been indicted by a grand jury, he has not yet had his day in court, and until that happens he is, like all defendants, presumed innocent until proven guilty.

E-mail chawes@wfaa.com