Fireman Sam has confirmed that he will not be resigning from the Pontypandy Fire Service, despite being charged with multiple counts of arson and just over 40% of his colleagues saying they'd be better off without him.
The senior firefighter has been dogged by controversy in recent months after it emerged he had deliberately started a number of blazes at the same time he was appearing in public information films promoting fire safety to the community. A recent vote among other firefighters saw almost half of them say he should resign, a result his few remaining allies described as "a convincing victory".
"While I accept and am humbled by the arson charges I truly believed that pouring petrol over Bella's Cafe and setting it alight was within the rules at the time. I now take full responsibility, have learned a valuable lesson and would like to move on, quickly." said Sam, who had initially claimed that he did not know about any fires, despite having been in charge of putting them out.
When video subsequently emerged showing Sam attending the fires he admitted he did know about them but had only been there to help fight them. Text messages were then discovered showing that he discussed starting the fire, at which point he conceded that he may have set the Cafe on fire a little bit, but that he thought it was OK to do so.
"Look, I understand that some people are upset about this, but focusing incessantly on the past isn't going to help anybody. It's time to move on and concentrate on what matters most to the public today. Like the fact that the local shop is currently on fire." said Sam, tucking a box of matches back into his pocket.
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