Hixton Man Charged for Setting Fire to Several Acres of Land in Jackson County

Tuesday, June 9th, 2026 -- 2:01 PM

(Katrina Lim, WEAU) A Hixton man is facing multiple felony charges after admitting to setting on fire several acres of land in Jackson County over a two-year period.

According to Katrina Lim with WEAU, online court records show 37-year-old Brandon Slawson is charged with nine counts of intentionally setting fire to another’s land. According to the criminal complaint, a series of suspected deliberate wildfires happened from 2024 through May 2026 in Garden Valley, Northfield, and Alma.

Law enforcement says the same person was consistently at the scene or the complainant for the fires. When authorities spoke with Slawson, he initially denied responsibility for setting any of the fires but eventually admitted to starting six of them.

He says he set the fires because he was upset that an injured knee prevented him from being a firefighter, but knew doing so was wrong. Although the defendant did not admit to setting the other fires, authorities say the circumstances are consistent with the ones he did admit to.

The land burned during the nine wildfires was just over four acres. That’s about the size of two Eau Claire city blocks. Six of the fires were on privately-owned land. Three were on state-owned land.

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