Kenneth Fire in West Hollywood Hills probed as arson, 1 in custody after residents detain them: LAPD
One person has been taken into custody in connection to the Kenneth Fire, which erupted Thursday afternoon in the West Hollywood Hills, as ferocious wildfires continue to tear through Southern California, according to reports.
The LAPD launched an arson investigation at Victory Trailhead, where the devastating fire broke out, with the area being treated as a crime scene, Brian Entin of NewsNation wrote on X.
The Kenneth Fire sparked just after 2:30 p.m. and has since spread over 800 acres and continues to rip through Ventura County, Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley told reporters Thursday night.
“About 20 minutes, 30 minutes later a suspect was detained over in the Woodland Hills area by citizens,” LAPD Senior Lead Officer Sean Dinse told Entin.
How — and why — the fire was started is still not clear, he added, but the blaze is “being investigated as a crime.”
The Los Angeles Fire Department initially issued mandatory evacuation orders for the area known as Hidden Hills, but downgraded that to mere warnings, Crowley said.
The LAPD did not immediately respond when reached for comment.
At least 20 people were arrested Wednesday and Thursday morning for looting homes damaged or destroyed by the catastrophic wildfires ripping through the City of Angels, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
Five separate fires sparked Tuesday morning, and days later have ravaged nearly 30,000 acres (47 square miles) in Los Angeles County, causing mass destruction and evacuations.
Some 130,000 Californians have been under evacuation orders from the multiple major fires, which include the Palisades Fire west of Los Angeles, the Eaton Fire north of Pasadena and the Sunset Fire in the Hollywood Hills.
The largest blaze, the Palisades Fire, has burned nearly 20,000 acres alongside the coast and destroyed more than 5,000 homes and structures in its path.
The out-of-control Eaton Fire has now destroyed or damaged between 4,000 and 5,000 homes as the growing blaze exploded to 13,690 acres on Thursday, officials said.
The cause of the five fires, three of which were completely un-contained, remain unknown and are under investigation.
At least seven people are dead, with the death toll expected to climb.
