Man Seen Starting Fires With Blow Torch in LA County Not Charged With Arson

A suspect seen starting fires with a blow torch in a Los Angeles neighborhood Thursday afternoon is not being charged with arson because a police investigation found “no probable cause.” The man is still being detained on a felony probation violation amid the ongoing investigation, Los Angeles Police Department Assistant Chief Dominic Choi said in a press conference Friday.

The arrest comes amid growing speculation that at least some of the LA fires were started by arsonists.

The suspect was arrested Thursday night on suspicion of arson near the Kenneth fire, a wildfire that started at about 2:30, Thursday afternoon. The suspect, believed to be a homeless man, had reportedly been seen riding around on a bicycle in Woodland Hills Thursday afternoon, attempting to set numerous old Christmas trees and garbage cans on fire with a blow torch.

A resident saw the man wielding a yellow blow torch and called on his neighbors to help him apprehend the suspected arsonist. The neighbors banded together, using zip ties and rope to detain the man.

With help from neighbors, they cornered him and made the citizens arrest.

“We really banded together as a group. 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,” a witness said.

The suspect was described as agitated and like “he was on something.”

“He was very like, ‘I can’t stop, I can’t stop'” a resident told Fox11. “I’m not putting this down. I’m doing this.”

The restrained man is believed to be in his mid-twenties to early thirties and allegedly speaks Spanish as his first language. Authorities have not revealed the suspect’s identity.

The witness said the man was “very focused on moving forward with his blow torch.”

A police official said last night that they believed the suspect had set the Kenneth fire, which had burned through 1,000 acres by Friday morning. That blaze is reportedly 35 percent contained.

Despite multiple eyewitness seeing the suspect starting fires, the Los Angeles police announced Friday morning that their investigation had determined that there was not enough probable cause to make an arrest for arson.

“There was not enough probable cause to arrest this person on arson or suspicion of arson, and therefore, this person was arrested on a felony probation violation,” said Chief Choi.

Multiple arson incidents across Los Angeles have been captured on video and shared on social media, including a video posted on X by a Stanford professor.

“People are lighting fires in otherwise non-burning urban areas of LA. Saw this happen first hand at 302 Pico in Santa Monica,” wrote Andrew Huberman, Professor of Neurobiology and Ophthalmology at Stanford Medicine. “Called it in & fire dept & police responded.”

“FirePhotoGirl,” an independent photo journalist who has been posting pictures and videos of the raging California fires on X, caught a determined homeless woman trying to set fire to the brush in Colton, west of LA.

“Unbelievable I am literally fighting with a homeless person who is lighting fires!!!! She told me she is doing a good thing,” she posted, along with video of the encounter. FirePhotoGirl said in a subsequent post that police arrived, but the woman had already “took off in the wash.”

A man was also spotted setting fires in the San Fernando Valley.

“My brother in law took this video of a man deliberately setting a fire in the Sepulveda Dam area,” @jasonsha posted on X. “He was apprehended and was let go, because he didn’t have an incendiary device. But he did have gas in the white jug.”

An LA-area homeowners association has reportedly sent out a newsletter warning residents to be on their guard for a “savvy arsonist” targeting affluent areas.

In the letter, Shirley Worrels, the president of the Baldwin Hills Estates HOA, said she had been informed by “a well-sourced person” in the LAPD that the fires are the work of “a very savvy arsonist” who seems to know a lot about “wind patterns and fire science.”

“The arsonist seems to be targeting affluent areas that abuts brush areas,” Worrels wrote. “Our community needs to be very vigilant for any suspicious activity.”

Worrels suggested that residents monitor their surveillance cameras and to investigate if their dogs are barking at something.

American Greatness has reached out to the HOA for comment and verification of the letter.

Five separate fires in Palisades, Eaton, Hurst, Lidia, and Sunset have ravaged through thousands of acres and continue to spread, causing mass destruction and evacuations.

All told, approximately 36,000 acres in Los Angeles County have been scorched, with more than 10,000 homes, businesses, vehicles, and other structures destroyed as of Friday.

A new fire erupted in Granada Hills, northeast of LA, Friday morning.

At least 20 looters have been arrested for raiding homes damaged or destroyed by the catastrophic wildfires, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. At least ten people have perished in the fires.

Update:

The Daily Mail has interviewed a fireman who claims two men were caught on video dumping gasoline and setting it alight immediately before the Palisades fire broke out.

A resident reportedly told a senior firefighter about the video after the blaze had started ravaging the area.

“By then we were too busy,” the firefighter said. “We told him to take the video to the police.”

According to the Daily Mail, the providence of the footage remains a mystery as the LAPD said they “have not received any reports of arson” related to the Palisades Fire.

News of the video comes amid growing suspicions of arson or foul play after one person was arrested for allegedly starting another blaze, the Kenneth Fire, on Thursday, police said. The man has not been charged.

Two days before that incident, a senior firefighter was one of the first on the scene battling the original Palisades blaze with his crew on North Piedra Morada Drive at the top of the Highlands Palisades neighborhood, when a resident approached him with a shocking claim.

“We had a resident come to us and said he got a video of two men dumping gas and lighting it off,” said the LAFD official, who asked to remain anonymous.

Update:

On Saturday, actress/author/filmmaker Justine Bateman sounded an alert on X that two arsonists were caught on video setting fires in the Hollywood Hills.

“Alert for people in the Hollywood Hills, from a neighbor,” Bateman posted.

“They have video of two people on a scooter (masked of course) riding into lower Runyon Cyn Park and coming out 3 mins later, fire was first spotted 12 mins after that.

The same two scooter guys, were actually seen by a resident, taking a small blow torch to hill side brush @ the top of Runyon Cyn Park, near Solar Dr, 15 mins later, so there were at least two ignition points, which is why it spread so quickly.

The same two “scooter guys” were spotted (and chased) by a Laurel Cyn Neighborhood Watch Group last night.”

Additionally, a homeless man was arrested for arson after setting a fire in Pioneer Park in Los Angeles County, NBC Los Angeles reported.

Escobar, who was described as a transient, admitted to starting the blaze, which was quickly extinguished.