Neighbors Praised for Response to Fire
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Sheriff’s deputies in Thousand Oaks are praising residents of an apartment complex on Los Feliz Drive for helping to foil an alleged arson blaze and bring a suspect into custody.
Wednesday night at about 11, deputies received a call that someone was starting a fire in a field near Los Feliz Apartments. Deputy Cary Peterson arrived to hear the crackling sound of a fire and see the glow of flames on nearby trees.
After scaling a wall, Peterson saw a man identified as 28-year-old Jeff Douglas Mattson, a transient, feeding the fire, according to Sgt. Rod Mendoza.
Peterson tried to take Mattson into custody, but was fought off by the suspect, authorities said. After a brief chase, Mattson was arrested two blocks away, Mendoza said. A crew from Ventura County Fire Station 31 put out the fire.
According to Mendoza, Mattson said he has been sleeping in the field and was building a camp fire. Mattson is being held in County Jail on $10,000 bail on suspicion of resisting arrest and unlawful causing of fire to property.
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