Ex-firefighter accused of sparking deadly blaze
A former firefighter for the U.S. Forest Service has been arrested on suspicion of setting a massive Shasta County wildfire in September that killed one person and destroyed 68 homes, authorities said Wednesday.
Zane Wallace Peterson, a 29-year-old resident of Happy Valley (Shasta County), intentionally lit at least seven fires this year, according to investigators from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
The most destructive, they said, was the 8,000-acre Clover Fire that began on Sept. 9 and raced out of control for a week through Redding's rural outskirts.
Peterson was taken into custody Tuesday and was expected to be charged Wednesday with murder and numerous counts of arson, said Capt. Scott McLean of the state firefighting agency.
"We don't know what the motive was," McLean said. "Hopefully something will come to light during his trial."
http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/Ex-firefighter-accused-of-sparking-deadly-blaze-5076265.php
