![Accused RFS firebug Daniel Dennis has been hit with a fresh charge in Wagga Local Court this week. File picture Accused RFS firebug Daniel Dennis has been hit with a fresh charge in Wagga Local Court this week. File picture](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/172474527/b503ff5a-baff-4ab5-9df8-99a24d582588.jpg/r0_0_1200_675_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
A fresh charge has been laid against a former RFS volunteer firefighter who lit a fire at San Isidore and allegedly made false reports about other fires.
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In March, Ashmont man Daniel Dennis, 34, pleaded guilty to one count of intentionally causing a fire and being reckless as to its spread after he lit a fire and then responded to the callout to extinguish the flames.
In June, police charged Dennis with a further 13 counts relating to allegedly making a large number of fake triple zero calls between October 2020 and last November.
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Appearing before Magistrate Rebecca Hosking in Wagga Local Court on Monday, Dennis was hit with a further charge for making "vexatious" calls to an emergency service number.
Police allege between 1.30am on January 27, 2021 and December 10, 2022, Dennis made "no less than 10 vexatious calls to emergency service number 000".
Dennis has not yet entered pleas for the new charge or the 13 counts of making a false call.
The fire charge, to which he has pleaded guilty to, relates to an incident at San Isidore shortly after 2.10am on December 11, 2022.
At the time, a passing ambulance vehicle observed a small grass fire on Kapooka Road and contacted emergency services.
Crews from the NSW Rural Fire Service arrived and put out the fire, however the cause of the blaze was deemed suspicious and referred to police for further investigation.
In January, detectives from the State Crime Command's Financial Crime Squad Arson Unit, Riverina Police District and RFS fire investigators began investigating the San Isidore fire and a number of other suspicious fires in the Wagga area during December and January.
After inquiries, detectives searched a home on Bardia Street in Ashmont on February 9.
Dennis was arrested at the home and taken to Wagga police station, where he was charged with intentionally causing a fire and being reckless as to its spread and making a false call to an emergency service number.
Police documents tendered to the court said Dennis deliberately lit the grass fire at San Isidore and allowed it to spread to vegetation along the side of Kapooka Road, near the Sturt Highway intersection.
Police said he then attended the blaze as a volunteer firefighter to extinguish it.
Magistrate Hosking adjourned the matter to August 14.
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