‘We were lucky’: Azusa police arrest suspected arsonist

The Azusa Police Department this weekend arrested a homeless man suspected of setting a brush fire at a park located near the foothills.

Police officers responded Friday at 11:37 p.m. to a report of a brush fire at Pioneer Park. Police Capt. Robert Landeros said two residents saw the fire, rushed over and saw a homeless man attempting to start another by trying to set fire to a tree that had been knocked down by the recent winds.

“It doesn’t appear that they use physical force but verbally confronted him and called police,” he said.

Arriving officers located the man and took him into custody on suspicion of arson while Los Angeles County firefighters put out the brush fire. Landeros identified the suspect as Jose Carranza-Escobar, a homeless man whose last known residence was in Azusa.

Landeros didn’t say what the man used to start the fire, but he praised the quick intervention of the two residents and response from the local fire station.

“We were lucky that the winds were calm last night,” he said.

The arrest comes a day after residents in a West Hills neighborhood detained a suspected arsonist who they say was trying to start a fire as the Kenneth fire burned, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.

Authorities identified the suspect as Juan Sierra, 33. Although he was booked on suspicion of a probation violation, the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department said Sierra is a “person of interest” in the Kenneth fire, which began Thursday afternoon near the county line.