Footage shows the moment an arson suspect was arrested in Azusa, California, while standing next to a burning tree, as the wildfires in Los Angeles and surrounding California areas continue.
Jose Gerardo Escobar was arrested on suspicion of arson at Pioneer Park on January 10 at around 11:30 p.m., not far from the San Gabriel Mountains, where the deadly Eaton fire started.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office allege Escobar tried to light a tree on fire that had fallen in Pioneer Park.
The footage, shared by the district attorney’s office, shows a police officer detaining the 39-year-old man in a green hoodie and black baseball hat while a fire burns in front of them. He is escorted away as a tree burns on the ground in the public park.
Escobar is charged with one count each of felony arson, arson during a state of emergency and attempted arson. He is being held on $20,000 bail. If convicted as charged, he faces up to nine years in state prison.
Get daily National news
Officials later confirmed that Escobar is not tied to any of the major wildfires that burned in Southern California.
Dozens of others have been arrested for looting, burglary and violating curfews, or other violations, during the wildfires in the Los Angeles area. One person was arrested on Tuesday night for impersonating a firefighter.
Los Angeles police Chief Jim McDonnell said one person admitted starting a fire “because he liked the smell of burning leaves.”
McDonnell said another person said “she enjoyed causing chaos and destruction.”
Millions of Southern Californians are on edge as another round of dangerous fire weather is forecast for the region, along with a rare warning of a “Particularly Dangerous Situation” for an area near where the Palisades and Eaton fires have killed at least 25 and destroyed thousands of homes.
—With files from The Associated Press
