Firefighter Is Serving 25 Years.

A volunteer firefighter has been sentenced to 25 years to life for setting a fire that killed a New York mother and three of her children.

Prosecutors say Caleb Lacey wanted to look like a hero by getting to the fire first.

Emotions ran high in the courtroom during Friday’s sentencing hearing. Children who survived the fire were in the audience, crying. The man who lost his wife and children also was there. He had recorded his statement, because he was too distraught to make it in court.

Lacey was convicted of four counts each of murder and manslaughter. He continued to insist Friday that he was not guilty.

The Feb. 19, 2009, fire started in a stairwell leading to apartments in Lawrence, N.Y.