One man is dead and another in custody in Southern California, both suspected of arson as the region entered its sixth day of devastating wildfires Thursday.

In the first incident, San Bernardino university police spotted a man in a rural area of scrub near the campus Tuesday evening, the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday.

When officers called out to the man, he jumped into a car and fled, leading university and San Bernardino police on a high-speed chase. The man crashed his car twice and then tried ramming a police car. Officers from both forces opened fire and he was killed, Lt. Scott Patterson of the San Bernardino Police Department said.

Patterson didn't reveal the man's name but said he was 27 with a home address in Arizona.

Hours later in Hesperia, north of San Bernardino, a woman spotted a man crouching in brush alongside a highway with smoke around him and called police. The man fled on a motorcycle but he was later arrested, the report said.

Residents snuffed the fire where he was spotted, police said.

The suspect, John Rund, 48, was being held on $750,000 bail on suspicion of arson Thursday, the newspaper said.  // Copyright 2007 by United Press International





Publication date: 25 October 2007   

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