BURLINGTON, Iowa - Kenneth Dix, the man prosecutors are holding responsible for burning his own home, said he wants nothing more than for a jury to hear his version of the events leading up to his getting charged.

He described his side of the story as the truth.

Dix will go to trial for second-degree arson and first-degree criminal mischief Sept. 14. For now, a pretrial conference will take place in the next week or so.

The 66-year-old Dix is accused of torching his home at 3257 Rock Springs Road, which was right next to his business, Actionland Camper Sales and Service, on U.S. 61 in October of last year.

He denies lighting the fire, and said he has not claimed the damage in his insurance.

"I'm not interested in no plea because this is a bunch of (expletive)," Dix said Monday. "I am going to fight it."

One afternoon last October, Dix said he went home only to find that one of his windows have been busted by his wife, who he said he was not getting along during the time.

He admitted to drinking that day and, out of anger, broke a couple more windows before calling the sheriff's department to look at the damage.

According to the incident report, Dix reportedly asked the deputy if it was illegal to burn his own house. Court papers indicate the lawman advised Dix it only is a crime if he intended to claim it as a loss on his insurance.

Dix, authorities said, then told the deputy to go ahead and call the fire department and hung up.

A few minutes after that call, dispatchers fielded reports of a house fire near Actionland and quickly sent fire crews to the location.

But Dix said that was not what he said.

He said he was agitated authorities would not come to his home to survey the window damage so he hypothetically told the deputy, "so, if the house caught on fire, there's no sense in me calling the fire department because no one is going to come anyway."

He insisted shortly after the phone call, he went into the house because his dogs had defecated and urinated inside. He cleaned the mess and lit two scented candles under window sills in the kitchen and living room.

"Now, if the cat ran through there, or the dog ran through there or the wind blew the curtain over, or whatever, or I got too close to the curtains, I don't know what caused (the fire)," he said.

Dix said he went back to his store next door shortly after lighting the candles and the next thing he knew, he heard sirens blaring and detectives calling out his name.

He let them in the office, he said. Deputies got the man on the ground and handcuffed him.

According to Dix, he was interviewed for two or three hours and maintained he told detectives he did not burn his own home.

"I told them I can look you guys in the eyes and tell you I did not start the fire," he said, adding after the interview, he was taken "to the nut house in Keokuk."

He was charged soon after.

"How can it be criminal mischief when it's my house?" he asked.

Agents from the Iowa State Fire Marshal's Office ruled the fire as arson and was incendiary in nature, authorities said, adding the most probable ignition source would have been an open flame.

The fire, they said, started in the living room on a sofa. Investigators found a second point of origin of the fire on a chair also in the living room.

Authorities said in court papers Sharon Dix, Kenneth Dix's wife, allegedly told investigators the man, a few days before the fire, had threatened to burn one of the campers they are selling at the business.

Dix, who said he recently graduated from an alcohol abuse rehabilitation and treatment program but noted he remains under the care of a physician for bipolar disorder, said he is not closing the door for possible plea negotiations.

"I hate to be found guilty for something I did not do," he said. "I just want them to tell the truth."

Des Moines County prosecutors have a long standing policy of not commenting on pending litigation.