ALTADENA : Transient Who Accidentally Set Wildfire Gets Probation
The mentally ill refugee from China who accidentally set the wildfire that destroyed 118 homes in Altadena has been sentenced to probation.
Andres Huang, 35, also was ordered to live at the Asian Pacific Residential Treatment Center, a Los Angeles board-and-care home for the mentally disabled.
Huang, 35, who pleaded no contest Nov. 29 to a misdemeanor count of starting an illegal open fire, faced a maximum six months in jail and a $1,000 fine at his sentencing Tuesday in Pasadena Superior Court. His probationary term will last three years.
Huang, who was living in the area as a transient, set a fire on Oct. 27 in the San Gabriel Mountains foothills to keep warm, but it got out of control and ultimately destroyed scores of homes. He was the only adult charged in 26 fires that swept Southern California this fall, killing four people and causing $1 billion in damage.
Huang has been diagnosed by psychiatrists as suffering from depression, schizophrenia and brain lesions.
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