A woman was arrested on suspicion of starting a handful of small roadside fires in Newhall on Tuesday, according to law enforcement officials.
The arrest stems from a call the Los Angeles County Fire Department and Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station received early in the evening regarding a report of a woman alighting roadside brush near Newhall Avenue and Railroad Avenue.
“She was basically in the center median planter lighting some of the plants and brush on fire,” said Sgt. Mike Fredericks, an investigator with the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department Arson and Explosives Detail. “She was witnessed by several passersby who took pictures and several called 9-1-1.”
The 60-year-old Newhall woman was located at the scene and arrested by responding deputies, according to Fredericks.
Sheriff’s officials said her motive for allegedly starting the fires remains under investigation. She was booked at the SCV Sheriff’s Station on suspicion of felonious arson and held in lieu of $50,000 bail.
