WETUMPKA, Ala. (AP) — A former volunteer firefighter will spend time on probation and pay fines after pleaded guilty to setting three fires in central Alabama.

An Elmore County judge accepted a plea from 30-year-old Chad M. Ellis, who admitted to two counts of second-degree arson.

Ellis is a former assistant chief of the Deatsville Volunteer Fire Department. A statement from the state fire marshal says he was accused of setting fires in two vacant houses and setting one woodlands fire.

The Montgomery Advertiser reports Ellis will have to attend counseling and is barred from service with any fire department for life.

Ellis was arrested in August 2016 following a string of fires in the area.