FIRE BUG?

Alleged Arsonist Pinned Down by Residents Amid L.A Wildfires

Locals said they caught the man trying to start a blaze in an area near the Kenneth Fire.

Residents in an L.A. neighborhood grouped together to take down a suspected arsonist, whom they said they saw with a “large propane tank or flamethrower.” The man, reported to be in his 30s, was held down and his hands were bound with zip ties until police arrived at the scene in the Woodland Hills area, near the Kenneth Fire, on Thursday. “We really banded together as a group,” witness Renata Grinshpun told KTLA. “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.” The LAPD did not confirm whether the man had any connection to the current wildfires decimating the area, but Charles Dinse, the senior lead officer, confirmed that a man was caught trying to start a blaze behind a vehicle. The cause of the Kenneth Fire, which broke out Thursday afternoon, is unknown—but being “investigated as a crime,” Dinse added.