Police began investigating the 28-year-old man following a recent series of fires around the town of Lomellina, in Lombardy, when they noticed that he was the first volunteer to respond to most fires in the area.
They then found CCTV footage of him starting fires, according to Italian daily la Repubblica.
The man allegedly told police that he wanted to emulate the action in an unnamed US television series and started the fires because there were not enough in the area where he was posted.
The suspect has since stepped down from his firefighting duties.
This is among a string of recent arson cases across Italy, which has suffered from extreme temperatures over the past weeks.
According to a press release by Italian authorities, eight men were on Thursday charged with deliberately starting fires in Avellino, in the southern region of Campania.
With ANSA
