A woman was arrested early Saturday for allegedly starting a brush fire in the Angeles National Forest during a red-flag alert that had forecasters warning of critical fire weather conditions.
Sheila Nartatez, 47, of Los Angeles, was taken into custody on suspicion of recklessly setting fire to forestry land, according to a news release from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
U.S. Forest Service firefighters spotted Nartatez walking near a small brush fire on Little Tujunga Canyon Road near mile marker 16, the release states. Firefighters extinguished the half-acre fire, and sheriff’s deputies from the Crescenta Valley Station detained Nartatez, it states. Investigators allege that Nartatez intentionally started the fire.
Nartatez was booked into the Crescenta Valley Station Jail and later transferred to the Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood, where she was being held on $35,000 bail.
A red-flag warning was in effect for many areas until 6 p.m. Saturday, with the National Weather Service cautioning that hot, dry Santa Ana winds and higher-than-normal temperatures could cause blazes to spread rapidly.
The sheriff’s units that responded to the incident had been deployed to conduct fire watch duties in the area in anticipation of the red-flag event, according to the sheriff’s department. Capt. Ryan A. Vienna, commander of the Crescenta Valley Station, credited the fire department with extinguishing “a potentially disastrous fire that could have affected all LA County residents.”
“We at Crescenta Valley Station remain committed to increasing our presence through field deployments during these events to save lives and property in the communities we serve,” Vienna wrote in a statement.
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