Suspected Arsonists Arrested for Arson in West Coast fires
As the west coast burns, society grows angry to find that some of the wildfires ravishing the lands were willfully set by arsonists.
Fires were threatening homes in Clackamas County south of Portland in the northern Willamette Valley, as well as west down the Santiam on highway 22 toward the capitol city, down the McKenzie River highway 126 almost reaching Springfield in the south Willamette valley as well as down in the Applegate Valley in the Medford and Phoenix areas of Jackson County. Thousands of Oregonians are displaced and some small cities have been reported to have been burned completely away as of today.
“This could be the greatest loss of human lives and property due to wildfire in our state’s history,” Oregon Governor Kate Brown said in a public statement about the fires.
But apparently no ALL of the fires are acts of nature or even by human accident...
A 44-year-old man by the name of Elias Newton Pendergrass of Mapleton is accused of first-degree arson and was arrested Tuesday for a wildfire that has burned nearly 400 acres east of Eugene Oregon.
The blaze is estimated to be 15% contained today. The fire which is known as the Sweet Creek Fire has burned approximaely 500 acres according to police because of Pendergrass.
Pendergrass is scheduled for arraignment Tomorrow at 1:30 Pm in the Lane County Circuit Court in downtown Eugene, Oregon for those interested.
Also burning in the area is the Holiday Farm fire, which grew to more than 100,000 acres as it pushed west along The McKenzie Hwy, aka Oregon 126 and has made it within miles of the Eugene-Springfield area some 50 miles away from where it is believed to have began. He will be arraigned at 1:30 p.m. Tomorrow on a charge of first-degree arson in Lane County Circuit Court.
The fire began Monday night near Blue River and as a result the town of Blue River, home to some 800 people, was burned to the ground. It is said that this fire alone fire has consumed more square miles than the city of Portland and yet it is only one burning out of control throughout the state, not to mention that both California and Washington state remain on fire as well.
In Oregon, at least 14 large fires burn today, and areas home to more than 10 million people in Washington, Oregon and California are under red flag warnings.
California reports having already lost over 2 1/2 Million acres so far and of the over 2 dozen burning in the golden state, reports to have several fires still ZERO percent contained as of today, some that have been burning for almost a month and most caused by lightening. This is concerning as California still has 4 months of fire season still to go, but might run out of land to burn before the season ends, especially if the Santa Ana and Diablo winds continue getting involved such as they did last night. Hot, dry and windy conditions are fueling numerous wildfires across the US West — including Oregon and Washington — and weather conditions are expected to continuing making things worse for firefighters in the coming days if not weeks.
The California Highway Patrol confirmed that just a few says ago, a 37-year-old woman by the name of Anita Esquivel, was also arrested and booked into the Monterey County Jail for arson after being accused of intentionally starting multiple fires along coast highway 101.
The number of fires she specifically is accused of starting remains unknown as do the information regarding her arraignment.
In the Los Angeles area, Santa Ana winds — hot, dry air descending from the inland mountain regions — threaten Wednesday to help start or expand fires, including the Bobcat Fire burning in the San Gabriel Mountains northeast of the city. Bobcat has scorched more than19,700 acres as of today and has forced evacuation orders for several southern California coastal canyons including the Big Santa Anita Canyon, Monrovia Canyon, Mount Wilson and San Gabriel Canyon, according to the NIFC.
Cal Fire investigators determined that the Bobcat was sparked during a gender reveal party, was caused by a “smoke-generating pyrotechnic device” used at the party on Saturday morning in El Dorado Ranch Park in Yucaipa, about 70 miles east of Los Angeles. As we humans know well, Most of the fires that are caused upon our globe if not caused by Nature are directly found to be caused by human... but most are Accidentally, which makes the above two people in many peoples eyes as "Attempted Murders" and are seeking stiff consequences and accountability.
Please stay tuned as well as do your best to stay safe, healthy, alert and on your guard because in times like these, ya truly don't know what's gonna come next!
