FIRST ON: Security video shows man setting fire at Idaho Falls business

An Idaho Falls man accused of setting a fire outside of his former employer appeared in court Tuesday afternoon.

Jason Schlegel is charged with arson after allegedly setting a fire behind his former employer, Brady’s, on East Lincoln Road in Idaho Falls. Schlegel is being held on a $30,000 bond.

“I got a big mess to deal with,” Brady’s owner Brad Brady said. According to Brady, Schlegel is a former employee who quit last year.

“This isn’t somebody that we fired. It is somebody that quit,” Brady said. “We tried to help him and he had problems. Ya know, some people you just can’t help.”

KIFI/KIDK was the first media outlet to to release security video from Brady’s. In it, you can see a man, believed to be Schlegel, walk across a snowbank and down the side of the building.

From a different angle, you see that man walk up to a cement slab behind the building a put a jug on the ground. Brady believes the jug is full of gasoline. Brady believes the suspect is filling up baggies with the gas and placing them in two different trucks owned by the company before setting them on fire.

In a video from a third security camera, you can see the fire begin at the bottom of merchandise and quickly spread. Brady told KIFI/KIDK, when Schlegal quit, the security system was undergoing repair. Brady believes Schlegal thought the cameras were still not functioning. Fire crews said damage is estimated at $120,000

“The young man that did this has a lot of problems,” Brady said. “This is going to be an inconvenience for me, but he has a lot bigger things to worry about and actually I feel sorry for him.”

Damage to the building was limited, according to Brady because of the sprinkler system.

“We thought the structure itself was on fire, so we planned for that,” Idaho Falls Fire Chief Dave Hanneman said. “We sent two engines, our ladder truck and three ambulances along with our battalion chief here.”

When crews got to the large commercial building there was heavy black smoke coming from the rear of the building. The smoke could be seen for miles, throughout the city of Idaho Falls.

“We just have to clean up and get things back together,” Brady said.

Schlegel is also facing charges of forgery and theft for using a Brady’s company card to make a purchase at Cal Ranch last year. He is expected back in court on the arson charges later this month.