The Azusa Police Department arrested a homeless man suspected of starting a fire at a park near Foothills this weekend.
Police responded to a report of a brush fire in Pioneer Park at 11:37 p.m. Friday. Police Chief Robert Landeros said two residents saw the fire and ran over to see a homeless man trying to set fire to a tree that had been blown down by recent winds. Another fire.
“They did not appear to use force, but they engaged in a verbal confrontation with him and called the police,” he said.
Arriving police found the man and took him into custody on suspicion of arson while Los Angeles County firefighters extinguished the brush fire. Landeros identified the suspect as Jose Carranza-Escobar, a homeless man whose last known residence was in Azusa.
Landeros did not reveal what the man used to start the fire, but he praised the two residents’ quick intervention and the local fire department’s response.
“We were lucky the winds were calm last night,” he said.
The arrests came a day after residents of the West Hills neighborhood detained an arson suspect they said tried to start a fire as the Kenneth Fire burned, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
Authorities identified the suspect as 33-year-old Juan Sierra. The “suspect” in the Kenneth fire.
