On June 23, 2004, a 55-year-old man stopped his pickup truck along a dirt road near a mud bog nestled in Ponderosa pines 45 miles south of Flagstaff.

It was not unusual for Van Bateman, fire management officer for the Mogollon Ranger District, to be out in the woods, especially during wildfire season.

But on this date, the U.S. Forest Service boss did something peculiar: After hiking down a short trail, he picked up a handful of dry pine needles, ignited them and placed them next to a dead oak tree.

“It smoldered,” Bateman later told investigators. “I just thought after I lit it, I thought, ‘Hell, we’ll just have a lightning fire here today for the boys to do something.’ I knew the fire was going to grow and not go out.”

That statement, and the act it describes, ended the career of a federal employee who spent more than three decades protecting the West’s wild lands. It also bewildered friends and colleagues who knew Bateman as a conscientious firefighter.

In fact, he had become a near legend in the world of smoke jumpers and disaster-planning experts. The Federal Emergency Management Agency honored Bateman as one of 13 “everyday heroes” for his Sept. 11 emergency management in New York after terrorists attacked the World Trade Center. A year later, he oversaw elite teams battling the 469,000-acre Rodeo-Chediski Fire, Arizona’s largest known blaze.

For a man who began beating down flames and saving lives at age 20, the role of firebug seemed unthinkable. Yet the fire at the Boondock Tank bog was not an isolated incident. Bateman also confessed to setting the nearby Mother Fire six weeks earlier. And investigative records indicate he was suspected of starting other blazes.

Why?

That is the question asked by friends, family and hundreds of colleagues who risked their lives beside him on the fire line.

Why would an expert on the lethal devastation of wildfires suddenly begin setting them after 34 years of public service?

Why would a guy with no criminal record, mental health history or financial motive try to burn down the Coconino National Forest?

Bateman remained mute on those questions for three years. He let attorneys argue legal technicalities until he lodged a guilty plea in October.

A few weeks ago, with a federal court sentencing set next month, Bateman returned to the crime scene with an Arizona Republic reporter to explain his conduct. (more…)