A handful of properties in Southern California wildfire regions have been left vacant after inhabitants were forced to flee oncoming fires. Several people have been arrested in the vacated communities. Officials said one duo had goods that would help them commit thefts, as well as, oddly, wild opossums.
Arrests were made Wednesday in areas under evacuation orders due to the Line and Bridge fires.
On Wednesday around 2 a.m., a patrol unit attempted to stop an off-highway vehicle on State Route 18 in Running Springs, a community under siege by the Line fire, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department. Officials said the two individuals in the vehicle, Robert Jones and Jose Valdez-Roque, abandoned it shortly after and were discovered at Deep Creek Drive and State Route 18.
Jones and Valdez-Roque were detained and lodged at the West Valley Detention Center on accusations of improper entry into a closed emergency area.
Running Springs, along with Arrowbear Lake and Green Valley Lake, are subject to mandatory evacuation orders as a result of the Line fire in San Bernardino County, which began on September 5. The fire has now expanded to over 36,000 acres, with 18% containment.
A 34-year-old male was arrested in Norco on Tuesday night, suspected of igniting the fire. The defendant, Justin Wayne Halstenberg, a FedEx contract delivery driver, is being jailed without bond at the West Valley Detention Center.
Another pair was caught later that morning along North Mountain and North Euclid avenues in San Antonio Heights, which is under evacuation because to the Bridge fire.
The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said that Vincent Olivas, 32, and Melissa Segura, 23, had been detained on suspicion of drug possession. According to officials, the pair was also found in possession of items used in theft as well as several wild possums. The animals were unharmed and released back into the wild, according to KTLA.
The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department could not be reached for comment.
The Bridge fire broke out Sunday in the Angeles National Forest northeast of Glendora and has since consumed more than 50,000 acres with no containment.
