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Neighbors tackle alleged arsonist after brush fire near Chatsworth

Alleged arsonist tackled by neighbors after brush fire near Chatsworth
Alleged arsonist tackled by neighbors after brush fire near Chatsworth 02:06

With deputies rushing to the scene, a group of neighbors in Chatsworth chased down a man they said started a couple of brush fires near their homes.

"He just started running," resident Amilcar Fajardo said. "There were other guys there. They all helped out. We just stopped him and that was it."

Fajardo works in Bell Canyon, near where a small brush fire started Monday afternoon. He was heading home but saw flames near the road and stopped. 

"I just see a couple of women and kids running towards the side of the hill," he said. "You can see the heat waves."

Santiago Martinez lives in the community next to where the fire burned. 

"The neighbors and the firefighters were really trying to put out the fire, but if the person is three minutes away from us lighting another fire," Martinez said. "You really have to act sometimes."

Martinez said he witnessed the suspect lighting another fire near another community along the road. 

"If you see something, you do something," Martinez said. "I drove down and I found him. He was starting another fire three minutes from here."

Martinez said he got out of his car and started yelling at him to stop. 

While waiting for Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department deputies, Martinez, Fajardo and other neighbors followed the man down the hill. 

"He started screaming and it was kind of funny," Fajardo said. "It was just kind of weird. I just took him down."

He held him down until deputies arrived a few minutes later. 

"We all struggled through the fires," Fajardo said. "It just shows you that more people want to do more help than harm."

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