McDonald's Worker Sets Restaurant On Fire Over Customer Frustration

Authorities emphasized the severity of arson and its risks to public safety, crediting the collaboration of agencies for McGregor's prosecution.

A McDonald's restaurant employee, Joshua Daryl McGregor, was sentenced to five years in prison after he intentionally set the restaurant on fire in April 2023 in Savannah, Georgia. Frustrated by the influx of customers, McGregor set a piece of cardboard alight and flung it into a dumpster full of flammables outside the restaurant.

According to a release by the US attorney office, the fire became so intense that customers in the drive-through lane had to back out of the parking lot, and the restaurant was forced to briefly close while the Savannah Fire Department extinguished the blaze. McGregor, who filmed the fire with his cell phone, was identified on surveillance video as starting the fire. He was arrested by Savannah Police Department investigators, and in May pled guilty to arson in US District Court.

"Intentionally setting a fire in an effort to shut down or damage someone else's property is inexcusable," said US Attorney Steinberg. "Joshua McGregor will have substantial time to ponder his post-prison employment options."