SALEM, Ore. — Quick-thinking residents are credited with helping police in Oregon arrest a man who is accused of starting two wildfires in the state.
Investigators said three residents saw Trennon Smith walking along a roadway, and after a brief struggle, tied him to a tree until officers arrived to arrest him, The New York Times reported.
“The suspect became very combative with the three residents and had to be tied to a tree to subdue him,” Sheriff John Ward told The New York Times.
Smith was treated and released at a hospital for injuries he received falling down, the sheriff said.
Smith is accused of walking along a gravel road and starting fires in the forest in the southwestern part of the state, near Grants Pass, The Associated Press reported. The fires were quickly brought under control and extinguished by emergency crews.
“The quick actions on getting the fires out most certainly averted a catastrophe and saved lives,” Ward told the AP. “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.”
Smith is being held at the Curry County Jail on two charges of first-degree arson, according to jail records.
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