Neighbors Praised for Response to Fire
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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