AIKEN --- A 19-year-old volunteer firefighter has been arrested and charged in a series of suspicious fires, including one that damaged Aiken County Summary Court in New Ellenton.

According to a statement Friday by the Aiken County Sheriff's Office, Brandon W. Smith, of the 500 block of Florida Avenue, is charged with four counts of second-degree arson and a charge of malicious injury to real property.

He was arrested Thursday night during a traffic stop and was held at the Aiken County Detention Center before being released later that day.

Mr. Smith is a volunteer firefighter with the New Ellenton Fire Department, according to police. He was in training to become a driver/operator at the Aiken Department of Public Safety.

In the most recent case, the police statement said, Mr. Smith is believed to have set fire Aug. 8 to a home under renovation on Gray Mare Hollow Road.

He is also a suspect in a July 8 fire at a home under renovation on Chukker Creek Road, and a fire at an abandoned home on Fairlane Street in New Ellenton

The malicious injury charge stems from a May 27 woods fire near 402 Old Whiskey Road, police said.

Police said that after setting the fires, Mr. Smith would either respond to the blazes as a firefighter or go home.