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SC Forestry employee arrested on arson charges

Authorities have tied him to a string of suspicious wildfires in northern Berkeley County near the Francis Marion National Forest
Credit: South Carolina Forestry Commission

MONCKS CORNER, S.C. — Berkeley County Sheriff’s detectives have arrested a South Carolina Forestry Commission employee on charges related to a string of suspicious wildfires in northern Berkeley County near the Francis Marion National Forest in January and February.

Brad Chance, 52, a forestry technician who worked for the agency in Berkeley and Charleston counties, was taken into custody Thursday after a joint investigation by SCFC law enforcement and the Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office. 

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He is charged with three counts of willfully burning lands of another.

A resident of St. Stephen, Chance was hired by the Forestry Commission in February 2021. 

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He has been suspended without pay, pending a South Carolina Forestry Commission investigation.

Chance will appear at a bond hearing before a Berkeley County magistrate Friday, March 11

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