Arrest made in 1 California fire

Marines move military vehicles near the entrance to California’s Camp Pendleton as smoke billows Friday from a wildfire on the base.

Marines move military vehicles near the entrance to California’s Camp Pendleton as smoke billows Friday from a wildfire on the base.

Saturday, May 17, 2014

SAN DIEGO -- With evacuation orders being lifted Friday, investigators worked to determine whether an unusually early and intense outbreak of wildfires in Southern California this week could be traced something as ordinary as sparks from vehicles or whether arson played a big role.

State fire officials said the first of at least 10 blazes that broke out between Tuesday and Thursday was found to have been caused by a spark from malfunctioning construction equipment, and another produced an charge of arson. But it could take months to get to the bottom of the rest of the fires.

"We are not ruling out anything," San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore said.

On Friday, Alberto Serrato, 57, was charged in one of the fires. Serrato pleaded innocent to arson in connection with one of the smaller fires, in Oceanside, which started Wednesday and is fully contained.

Tanya Sierra, a spokesman for the San Diego County district attorney's office, said witnesses saw Serrato adding brush to the flames near homes but that he was not seen starting the fire. Sierra said he has not been connected to any other fire.

The spokesman said Serrato was arrested Thursday in Oceanside and faces up to seven years in prison if convicted.

Altogether, the fires burned through more than 20,000 acres in the San Diego area, causing more than $20 million in damage. One burned body was found in an encampment of homeless people. At least eight houses, an 18-unit condominium complex and two businesses were destroyed, and tens of thousands of people were asked to leave their homes.

On Friday, San Diego County officials said five of the wildfires had been 100 percent contained.

County officials also said the week's first big fire, which started Tuesday in the community of Rancho Bernardo, was 90 percent contained.

Crews were focusing efforts on two large fires -- one in San Marcos and two blazes at the Marine Corps' Camp Pendleton.

On Friday evening, Marine Corps officials said all nonessential employees had been ordered to leave Camp Pendleton because of a third wildfire that ignited on the base.

The Marine Corps said the new blaze cropped up Friday in the northwest section of the base, prompting evacuations of military housing and an infantry school.

Officials said the two other fires had prompted the evacuation of 356 military families.

The region has become a tinder box in recent days because of conditions not normally seen until late summer -- extremely dry weather, 50 mph Santa Ana winds and unusually high temperatures. On Friday, though, cooler weather aided the 2,600 firefighters, and thousands of people began returning home.

In one of the hardest-hit cities, Carlsbad, investigators finished examining the burn site across the street from a park and focused on interviewing people who called a hotline that was set up to report any suspicious activity.

"Do people have suspicions? Yes," said police Capt. Neil Gallucci, who noted that there has been no lightning that could explain the blazes. "But can we confirm them? The answer is no."

Police in Escondido, a city north of San Diego, arrested two people, ages 17 and 19, for investigation of arson in connection with two small fires that were extinguished within minutes. But they found no evidence linking the suspects to the 10 bigger wildfires.

The first blaze started Tuesday in the upscale San Diego suburb of Rancho Bernardo in a field among areas cleared for new development. It burned through more than 1,500 acres before it was contained the next day.

About an hour after authorities announced the situation was under control, a second blaze started at a naval weapons base. Then a tractor-trailer caught fire at a Border Patrol checkpoint. By day's end, eight fires were roaring within a 15-mile radius -- torching canyons and racing past homes in beach communities and inland suburbs.

A dozen wildfires popping up in a single day is not unheard of in the drought-stricken state, but it's a phenomenon usually seen during the summer.

"What makes the San Diego area fires so unique is that we had tinder-dry conditions and Santa Ana winds in the month of May, and that's unprecedented," state fire spokesman Daniel Berlant said.

A Section on 05/17/2014