Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Air Rescue 5 and LASD Montrose Search and Rescue rescued a hiker and their German shepherd from a cliff in Big Tujunga.
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Air Rescue 5 and LASD Montrose Search and Rescue rescued a hiker and their German shepherd from a cliff in Big Tujunga.
May 18, 2021
Los Angeles Fire Department
(LOS ANGELES) A homeless man was identified on Tuesday as the person who started Southern California’s Palisades Fire, which has burned more than 1,100 acres, threatened hundreds of home and prompted the evacuation of about 1,000 people.
The suspect, 48-year-old Ramon Santos Rodriguez, allegedly used an incendiary device to ignite the blaze in the Santa Monica Mountains of Los Angeles County, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department Arson Counterterrorism Section.
Rodriguez was arrested just before 11 a.m. on Sunday when he emerged from the burned brush near the spot where the blaze began and was spotted by a private security officer, who alerted police, officials said. He was suffering from smoke inhalation at the time he was taken into custody and he was treated at a hospital, authorities said.