Suspected Arsonist Arrested as Deadly Southern California Wildfires Rage On, Killing Ten

The latest fire to erupt in Southern California may have been the work of an arsonist who intentionally started a new series of intense blazes across the Los Angeles Region.The latest fire ignited Thursday Afternoon in the West Hills/Hidden Hills area and quickly spread across 960 acres into neighboring Ventura County. The cause of the Kenneth Fire was not immediately known, but one man was arrested in the area after he was seen using a propane torch by residents in the Woodland Hills neighborhood, according to a report from Newsweek.“We were sitting in the backyard, and suddenly, we hear a car come to a screeching halt, and the guy is running out saying, ‘Stop! Drop what you’re holding! Neighbors, he’s trying to start a fire! Call 911,” Renata Grinshpun told KTLA, recounting how residents on the block quickly sprang into action.“We really banded together as a group,” She said. “A few gentlemen surrounded him and got him on his knees. They got some zip ties, a rope, and we were able to do a citizens’ arrest.”Officials with the LAPD say the Kenneth Fire is being investigated as arson, but it is unknown if it is connected to the man who was arrested.“What we know right now is that the incident occurred here, and about 20-30 minutes later, a suspect was detained by citizens,” Sean Dinse with LAPD’s Topanga Division said to the local news channel. When asked whether arson was the potential cause for the Kenneth Fire, he said, “At this time, that’s what we believe. It’s being investigated as a crime.”Police officials have not provided details of the incident as an arson investigation remains underway.As the spate of hellish wildfires continues into a fourth day, officials at Los Angeles say that at least ten people have been killed as a result of the inferno, and more than 9,000 homes and businesses have been leveled as a result of the Palisades and Eaton Fires, according to Los Angeles Times.Los Angeles County Sheriff officials say they are working to get a better count of the fatalities but have had trouble due to dangerous conditions in the fire zones. Detectives are investigating deaths at multiple locations.“Information is still very preliminary, but there have been multiple deaths in the fire areas,” LA County Sheriff Communications Director Nicole Nishida said.On Thursday afternoon, Sheriff Robert Luna announced that security measures would be ramped up by Friday in the areas affected by the Palisades and Eaton Fires with a curfew between 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. after 20 people have been arrested for looting.He also said that he has requested support from the California National Guard to protect infrastructure, control traffic issues, and deter further looting. Governor Newsom approved the request, and 8,000 National Guard personnel will be deployed to the region.The fierce Santa Ana Winds that helped fan the flames have finally weakened across Southern California, leading the National Weather Service to downgrade the fire weather outlook from “extremely critical” to “critical,” according to Los Angeles Times, but winds are expected to pick back up into next week, with the worst days being Sunday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.“We’ll get a little bump up in winds as we get another little push of offshore flow,” a NWS meteorologist, Mike Wofford, said. “Nothing like we saw [Wednesday] with the gusts of 80- to 100-mph winds, but certainly enough to present some issues for the fires. It’s kind of like a day on, day off sort of thing.”Humidity levels are expected to remain low, with no rain forecasted in the near future, raising the chance of increasing the inferno’s destructive path.“This has the potential to be, at least collectively, the costliest wildfire disaster in American history,” UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain said to Los Angeles Times.“Even just the Palisades fire on its own may become so.”

Suspected Arsonist Arrested as Deadly Southern California Wildfires Rage On, Killing Ten

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