By Greg Welter
The Chico Enterprise-Record (California)
PARADISE, Calif. — Two suspicious fires broke out along Pentz Road south of Paradise just after 4 p.m. Wednesday, and officials have a good description of the man who may have started them.
Cal Fire-Butte County Capt. Steve Fowler said two women driving south on Pentz saw a small fire on the east side of the road and turned around, thinking they could put it out.
By the time they got back to it, it had reached a tree and was torching about 30 feet into the air.
The women said they saw a man sitting in a pickup watching the fire, even when it was small, but making no attempt to put it out.
He quickly drove away when the women got out of their vehicle. The witnesses said they would know the man if they saw him again.
Fowler said the larger of the two fires, about a quarter-mile south of Lago Vista Way, was held to about one acre. A second fire, along Pentz at Lago Vista, burned a smaller area.
Engines and hand crews fought the blazes, with the help of a Cal Fire helicopter that was drawing water from Kunkel Reservoir.
Fowler said fire investigators are looking for the man seen at the fire. He is described as white, in his 50s, with a very full brownish-gray beard that reportedly makes him resemble Santa Claus.
He was described as having a stocky build, and may have been wearing a dark T-shirt. The women said he was driving a faded red Toyota pickup, regular cab, possibly a 1980s model.
The fire burned a fiber-optic transmission line along Pentz that knocked out telephone service to most of Paradise, including the town's emergency 9-1-1 system. Callers reportedly just got a busy signal well into Wednesday night.
The women who described the possible suspect said they reported the fire to 9-1-1 before flames melted the transmission line.
Pentz Road was completely closed for about an hour between Lago Vista and Lime Saddle Marina. With several pieces of fire equipment blocking part of Pentz Road, officials later began escorting one-way controlled traffic through the area on Pentz north of Sierra Del Sol Way.
A third fire reported near Oregon Gulch Wednesday afternoon was initially thought to be suspicious, but officials learned it was started when a woman crashed her car into a tree. She suffered minor injuries. The blaze charred about an acre before it was contained.
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