A number of homes in wildfire areas of Southern California have been left empty as residents have been forced to flee the looming fires. Several people have now been arrested in emptied quarters. Officials said a couple had items that would help them carry out thefts — as well as, oddly enough, wild opossums.
On Wednesday, arrests were made in areas under evacuation orders near the Line and Bridge fires.
A patrol unit attempted to stop an all-terrain vehicle on State Route 18 in Running Springs, a community under siege by the Line fire at 2 a.m. Wednesday, according to San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department. Officials said the two men in the vehicle, Robert Jones and Jose Valdez-Roque, abandoned it shortly after and were found near Deep Creek Drive and State Route 18.
Jones and Valdez-Roque were arrested and booked into the West Valley Detention Center on charges of trespassing into a closed emergency area.
The communities of Running Springs, as well as others including Arrowbear Lake and Green Valley Lake, are under mandatory evacuation orders due to the Line fire, which started Sept. 5 in San Bernardino County. The fire has since spread to more than 36,000 hectares with 18% containment.
It was a 34-year-old man who is suspected of starting the fire arrested Tuesday night in Norco. The suspect, Justin Wayne Halstenberg, who is a FedEx contract driver, is being held without bond at the West Valley Detention Center.
Another couple was arrested later that morning at North Mountain and North Euclid avenues in the San Antonio Heights community, which is under an evacuation alert because of the Bridge fire.
Vincent Olivas, 32, and Melissa Segura, 23, were arrested on suspicion of drug possession, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department. Officials said the pair were also found to be in possession of items to aid in the theft and several wild opossums. The animals were unharmed and released back into the wild, according to KTLA.
The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department could not be reached for comment.
The Bronze Fire broke out Sunday in the Angeles National Forest northeast of Glendora and has since burned more than 50,000 acres with 0% containment.