LOS ANGELES : Ex-Fire Captain Pleads Guilty in 3 More Blazes

A former Glendale fire captain already convicted of setting a series of fires in the Central Valley pleaded guilty Wednesday to arson in three other California blazes.

John Orr, 43, of Eagle Rock faces up to 30 years in federal prison for his guilty pleas on three counts of arson.

Orr was accused in two federal cases of setting a string of fires beginning in 1987, many similar to those described in an unpublished manuscript he wrote about a serial arsonist. In addition to the manuscript, authorities found a fingerprint on an incendiary device that was determined to belong to Orr, said officials from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

A federal jury in Fresno convicted Orr in July, 1992, of setting three Central Valley fires while returning from an arson investigator’s conference. The guilty pleas on Wednesday stemmed from two fires in Atascadero in March, 1989, and one in Los Angeles in December, 1990. Orr was accused of setting the Atascadero fires while returning from another arson investigator’s conference.