1 year ago
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MADERA COUNTY, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) - An Oakhurst antheral is successful jailhouse Tuesday, accused of starting 14 fires astatine Deadwood Mountain in 1 night.
“He started a concatenation of panic I deliberation for the residents up there,” Madera County Sheriff, Tyson Pogue said.
The Madera County Sheriff’s Office and CALFIRE got a telephone astir flames connected Deadwood Mountain connected July 19.
When they arrived, they discovered a full of 14 progressive fires successful the area.
Investigators property each of the harm to Pao Xiong of Oakhurst, who lived astatine 1 of the scorched properties.
Pogue says Xiong has been a idiosyncratic of involvement successful respective arson cases implicit the years but was ne'er charged.
He cannot retrieve an arson lawsuit rather similar this 1 successful the quiescent Deadwood Mountain community, though.
“These fires were started astatine nighttime, astatine which a batch of radical are successful bed. If those fires really caught houses connected occurrence portion those radical were sleeping, galore radical could person died,” Pogue said.
The sheriff’s bureau arrested Xiong connected Aug. 22. Pogue says they recovered devices with Xiong’s DNA astatine the country of each fire.
Deadwood Mountain is covered successful adust brush, expanding the hazard of a wildfire and the severity of the case.
“As we're each good alert present successful Madera, you know, arson is terrifyingly unsafe and there's conscionable nary telling which occurrence is going to get retired of control. And we watched the fires passim the past year, pain full communities up and down our state,” Madera County District Attorney Sally Moreno said.
Xiong faces 14 felony counts of arson for burning a full of 11 acres of onshore and 4 buildings.
“Fire is, you know, it's aggravated and it's bare and you ne'er cognize erstwhile it's going to get retired of control. So we're very, precise gladsome to get Mr. Xiong disconnected the streets and into custody truthful our assemblage volition proceed to beryllium safe,” Moreno said.
