ANGELES NATIONAL FOREST -- A man was arrested Tuesday after deputies caught him setting a fire in a steep, remote canyon filled with dry brush and large trees in the Angeles National Forest, according to sheriff detectives.
Hikers in a remote trail about a half-mile north of the Eaton Canyon Bridge in Altadena saw a man making a fire there and alerted authorities, sheriff's Detective Ed Nordskog said.
Los Angeles County Parks officials and deputies arrived about 10 a.m. as the man was standing next to a fire about four feet in diameter. He warned the deputies to stay away and not extinguish the blaze, Nordskog said.
The man, identified as Dikran Armouchian, 23, of Pasadena, made comments about the fire he had started -- and a smaller one nearby -- as it was extinguished, Nordskog said.
Officials noted that the area was ripe for the fast spread of a fire, he said.
Armouchian, who had been reported missing by his family in Glendale, was booked at the Crescenta Valley Sheriff's Station and held in lieu of $50,000 bail, Nordskog said.
The U.S. Forest Service's Law Enforcement Section and the Sheriff's Arson/Explosives Detail are investigating the case, Nordskog said.
