KHTS Radio Santa Clarita Radio – Santa Clarita News
Prosecutors declined to press charges against a man who detectives believe started a fire in the Newhall Pass last week.
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Deputies arrested Zachary Garcia, 20, of Lancaster, near where the Towsley Fire broke out, right after the fire was started.
Initial Sheriff’s Department reports indicated Garcia used a smoke bomb as a tactic during a game with friends, and the device ignited a fire in the dry brush that surrounds the field.
Sgt. John Hanson of the Sheriff’s Department’s Arson/Explosives Unit, who investigated the incident, presented a case to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
From a previous story: Man Arrested By Paintball Field Near Start Of Towsley Fire
The case was reportedly a decline to file, he said, because the evidence was “unable to prove intent or recklessness,” he said, citing the reason he was given for the no-file by the District Attorney’s Office.
The fire burned a little over 50 acres in the Newhall area July 14.
Much of the field where Garcia was reportedly engaged in the paintball competition ended up scorched in the resulting blaze.
From a previous story: Update: Towsley Fire At 50 Acres, 85 Percent Contained, Forward Progress Stopped – #TowsleyFire VIDEO
He was arrested on a misdemeanor 452(d) charge in the state’s Penal Code, which, according to FindLaw, covers:
(d) Unlawfully causing a fire of property is a misdemeanor. For purposes of this paragraph, unlawfully causing a fire of property does not include one burning or causing to be burned his own personal property unless there is injury to another person or to another person’s structure, forest land or property.
Guess I have to agree with this one. Even though it was certainly bad judgement to use a smoke bomb in that highly flammable area, I understand its use is pretty standard in paintball operations. Hopefully the paintball owners have done a better job of brush clearance on their property (or perhaps the fire already did that for them!)