A homeless man who has not been identified yet has been busted on the suspicion of trying to start a fire as Kenneth Fire became one of the latest to ravage LA. It is not yet known whether the Kenneth Fire was sparked intentionally but the police confirmed that the man was spotted about 20 minutes or 30 minutes after the Kenneth Fire started. The Kenneth Fire broke out north of the Palisades fire Thursday and then spread to almost 1,000 acres and is now 35 per cent contained.
At about 4.30 pm Thursday, officers got a call from locals that a man was attempting to light a fire behind a van on the 21700 block of Ybara Road in Woodland Hills. “What we know right now is the incident occurred; started here,” Sean Dinse, Senior Lead Officer of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Topanga Division, told KTLA 5.
“And about 20 minutes 30 minutes later, a suspect was detained over the Woodland Hills area by citizens.”
Locals said the man was riding around Woodland Hills on a bicycle setting fire to several old Christmas trees and garbage cans and it happened at the same time when the Kenneth Fire started.
Renata Grinshpun, a local, told KTLA she was in her backyard when she heard a car screech to a stop and a man yelling, “Neighbors, he’s trying to start a fire! Call 911!’”
The residents gathered and sprung into action to contain the person as he tried to flee. They also got hold of some zip ties and rope and made a citizens’ arrest before handing him over to the police.
“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.
Who is the ‘Kenneth Fire arsonist’? What we know about the man
Police have not revealed his identity but it’s confirmed that he is a homeless person who was very focused on torching things. Locals said when he was pinned down he said he could not stop. “He was like, ‘I can’t stop. I can’t stop. I’m not putting this down. I’m doing this,’” a witness said. “And we’re like, ‘We can’t be doing that right now.’”
Grinshpun said the man said he used a blowtorch “to smoke marijuana” because he could not afford a lighter.
The man is believed to be in his mid-20s and speaks Spanish as his first language.
