Former firefighter Kenton Leong admitted to police that he set three brushfires in the Makapu'u area July 17 and also admitted abusing the drug crystal methamphetamine, a detective testified yesterday.

Honolulu Police detective Thomas Santos testified in a preliminary hearing on three arson charges lodged against Leong on Friday.

District Judge Lono Lee ruled that there is probable cause to believe Leong committed the crimes and bound him over for trial in Circuit Court.

Leong has not entered a plea and will be arraigned Aug. 4. He is being held in lieu of $100,000 bail.

The heavily tattooed Leong was brought to District Court in shackles yesterday, wearing a T-shirt and Billabong board shorts.

Leong was a firefighter for 17 years but was fired in March. The department has declined to reveal the reasons for Leong's dismissal.

Santos testified that Leong told him that he lost his job because of "some issues regarding a urinalysis test."

He first claimed he had taken a drug that increased the level of oxygen in the blood because he competes in triathlons, Santos testified.

But Leong later "confirmed that he did have a crystal meth problem," the detective said.

Santos said Leong did not appear to be high on drugs when he was interviewed twice by police on Friday morning and evening. But he agreed to give hair samples so that tests for drug use could be conducted, Santos said. The results of those tests are not yet known.

Leong told Santos that he "wasn't mad at the Fire Department" because of his dismissal, the detective said.

The defendant admitted setting the fires with "an orange lighter," which he discarded after the third blaze began, according to Santos.

Santos did not testify about a motive for the fires.

Other officers testified yesterday that three different brushfires were set last Thursday morning in the undeveloped area on Kalaniana'ole Highway opposite the Hawai'i Kai golf course.

The fires burned across more than nine acres of property and were extinguished by at least five Fire Department trucks and the department's helicopter.

Police Sgt. Dodd Okamura testified that he encountered Leong walking along a path in the area immediately after the third fire began burning about 40 or 50 yards behind Leong.

Leong was questioned and later arrested by another officer, Okamura testified.

Leong is charged with two counts of first-degree arson and one count of second-degree arson.

Leong's lawyer, Deputy Public Defender Ronette Kawakami, argued to the judge that the prosecution had failed to show that lives were endangered by the fires because the area is unpopulated and has few visitors on weekday mornings.

But Deputy Prosecutor Keith Seto argued that the lives of firefighters who responded to the blazes were put at risk.