Former DeKalb firefighter accused of arson

A former DeKalb County firefighter is facing arson charges, officials say.

Jeremy Lyons is accused of breaking into a home on Willow Wood Circle in southeast Atlanta around 3 a.m. Feb. 19 and setting it on fire, Channel 2 Action News reported.

He is also charged with animal cruelty because the fire he is accused of setting killed a cat.

Detectives told the news station Lyons broke in through the back door and used an accelerant to set the place ablaze.

Officials with DeKalb + Atlanta Fire are working this investigation jointly. What we have learned @ 11 @wsbtv. pic.twitter.com/Gs3yogVB9U
— Nefertiti Jáquez (@nefertitijaquez) May 3, 2017

Channel 2 reported that Lyons was mad at an ex-girlfriend and went to her new boyfriend's house to set it on fire.

The former firefighter resigned from the DeKalb County Fire Department in January 2015, after serving nearly a decade, for non-disciplinary reasons, officials told Channel 2.

Police arrested Lyons Friday at his job, where he serves as as emergency medical technician.

He has since bonded out of jail.

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