A cast member of the hit NBC series Chicago Fire has been deemed a hero after he took down an alleged real-life arsonist.
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While speaking to Deadline, Brian J. White, who plays Capt. Dallas Paterson on Chicago Fire, said he was preparing to leave his Woodland Hills home amid the Los Angeles wildfire crisis on Thursday, Jan. 9, when he and his neighbors encountered a flamethrower-wielding arsonist.
“I hear screaming, ‘Put it down, put it down,’” White said.
It was one of his neighbors confronting the alleged arsonist, who was identified as Juan Manuel Sierra-Leyva.
Initially believing there was a gunman outside, White went outside to investigate the situation. His neighbor had caught Sierra-Leyah with a blowtorch. He was attempting to light White’s trash can on fire. The container was holding leaves and sticks.
The man was previously chased by another neighbor 20 minutes earlier. He allegedly tried to light an old Christmas tree on fire.
The ‘Chicago Fire’ Actor Used On-Set Training to Take Down the Alleged Arsonist
White joined two other neighbors in detaining the alleged arsonist in the front yard of a nearby house. He was seen on video trying to calm the man down while the two neighbors restrained him.
The Chicago Fire actor said his on-set training helped him in the situation.
“It was more a hostage negotiating training,” White explained. “I’ve gone on a lot of police ride-alongs over the years, and one of the main things they talk about is staying calm and communicating.”
White also said he clearly communicated to the man that he didn’t care for an explanation about his arsonous actions.
“He’s standing on my property with an ignited blowtorch,” White continued. “So I’m just going to make sure that he waits until the police come.”
“He then became very aggressive about being asked what he was doing here,” White then shared. “He said he was looking for a place to hang out. And we’re like, well, this isn’t the place to hang out.”
When the police arrived, they arrested the man and charged him with felony probation violation. There was not enough evidence to hit him with an arson charge.
White and his neighbors disagreed with the responding officers’ actions.
“The fires were approaching us from where that man had come from, so it was suspicious that the fires crept over close to his timing of being in our neighborhood with a blowtorch,” White added.