--- description: A former firefighter has been arrested for allegedly burning the home of a black firefighter in upstate New York. title: New York Man Charged With Burning Home of Black Firefighter image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # New York Man Charged With Burning Home of Black Firefighter by [Rosalie Chan](/author/rosalie-chan/) ## Rosalie Chan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 5, 2016 8:43 PM CUT by [Rosalie Chan](/author/rosalie-chan/) ## Rosalie Chan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 5, 2016 8:43 PM CUT A former firefighter has been arrested for allegedly burning the home of a black firefighter in upstate New York. Matthew Jurado, 39, admitted to police that he burned Kenneth Walker’s home in North Tonawanda, N.Y., in retaliation for being let go from his volunteer firefighter job, the [New York _Daily News_ reports](http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/man-charged-torching-black-upstate-n-y-firefighter-home-article-1.2739665?utm%5Fcontent=buffer45223&utm%5Fmedium=social&utm%5Fsource=twitter.com&utm%5Fcampaign=NYDailyNewsTw "undefined"). Jurado was Walker’s neighbor, and while they had both trained together, they worked at two different departments. Walker had [received a racist and threatening letter](http://time.com/4438756/firefighters-home-burned-down-after-he-received-racist-threat/ "undefined") on Monday. Jurado did not claim responsibility for the letter, but said he knows who wrote it, the _Daily News_ reports. Jurado told police his crime “was not race related.” Walker and his family were not in the house when it burned down, but they lost two cats, their home and their belongings. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4441555/north-tonawanda-black-firefighter-arson/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4441555/north-tonawanda-black-firefighter-arson/"},"headline":"New York Man Charged With Burning Home of Black Firefighter","datePublished":"2016-08-05T20:43:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T23:48:42.216Z","description":"The suspect is a former firefighter","url":"https://time.com/4441555/north-tonawanda-black-firefighter-arson/","keywords":["Crime","Race","fire","Law","justice","tragedy","local"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Rosalie Chan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/rosalie-chan/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4441555/north-tonawanda-black-firefighter-arson/","name":"New York Man Charged With Burning Home of Black Firefighter"}}]}] ```