Residents of southwest Oregon took matters into their own hands when they detained a man suspected of intentionally starting wildfires in the woods and tied him to the trees until police could arrive.
On Monday, reports of active fires in a remote area of Oregon were received by the U.S. Forest Service, according to the Washington Examiner. At the same time, a man had been seen walking along the gravel road in the area starting fires.
While ground crews tended to the fire, which they were able to contain before it roared out of control, locals were able to detain the suspect, 30-year-old Trennon Smith.
"Three local residents of that area located the suspect walking on the roadway near the fires and detained him until law enforcement arrived on scene," Curry County Sheriff John Ward said in a statement to the Washington Examiner. "It was reported that the suspect became very combative with the three residents and had to be tied to a tree to subdue him."
According to police, Smith was taken to an area hospital for injuries sustained from falling down and was then transported to Curry County Jail where he was charged with two counts of arson in the first degree and one count of reckless burning.
It was discovered that the suspect had a warrant out for his arrest at the time for a probation violation.
The sheriff's office applauded the locals for detaining the suspect as well as the agencies that responded to the fires, which could have been catastrophic.
"The quick actions on getting the fires out most certainly averted a catastrophe and saved lives," Ward said, according to NBC News. "If the fires had not been contained and if they got out of control, they could have blocked all the residents and visitors from having an escape route."
Due to the quick response, the area that was burned by Monday's fire spanned less than one acre, Ward added.
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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