Off-Road Driver Is Booked in Brush Fire
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Ventura County sheriff’s deputies arrested a man suspected of igniting a brush fire that scorched 20 acres of rugged land and threatened hundreds of homes in Bell Canyon on Saturday, authorities said.
David C. Roberts was taken into custody shortly after the fire started at 10:44 a.m.
According to police, the 26-year-old Long Beach resident and a companion were traveling off-road in the hills above Bell Canyon when the vehicle apparently ignited dry grass. The fire quickly spread into the surrounding brush and burned for more than four hours before firefighters contained it.
Roberts was booked into Ventura County Jail on charges of unlawfully causing a fire and was later released on his own recognizance.
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