Transient wanted for questioning regarding…
Transient wanted for questioning regarding Station Fire pleads not guilty to setting earlier blaze
By Ruby Gonzales | rugonzales@scng.com | San Gabriel Valley Tribune
PUBLISHED: October 19, 2009 at 12:00 a.m. | UPDATED: August 30, 2017 at 11:15 a.m.
PASADENA – A man wanted for questioning regarding the massive Station fire has been arrested on suspicion of setting a smaller blaze six days earlier, officials said Monday.
Police believed Babatunsin Olukunle, 25, set a small fire Aug. 20 near the "Lady Bug" turnout on Angeles Crest Highway. The fire burned several square feet before U.S. Forest Service workers put it out. The workers say they saw Olukunle walking into the forest away from the blaze, detectives said.
Olukunle, who police say is a transient and is originally from Nigeria, pleaded not guilty to setting the Ladybug fire during an arraignment Monday in Pasadena Superior, according to Jane Robison, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office.
Investigators also had wanted to question Olukunle about Station fire, which resulted in the death of two firefighters. But he hasn't been named a suspect in that massive blaze, according to deputies and the District Attorney's Office.
Detectives said deputies from the sheriff's Lancaster Station arrested Olukunle on Thursday.
Olukunle will return to court Nov. 19 to set a date for his preliminary hearing. He is being held in lieu of $100,000 bail, said Sandi Gibbons, another spokeswoman for the DA's Office.
Lt. Liam Gallagher, who is investigating the Station Fire for the sheriff's homicide bureau, couldn't be reached for comment Monday.
No arrests have been made in the Station Fire, the largest wildfire in the county's history. It destroyed 89 homes and burned 250 square miles.
Los Angeles County Fire Capt. Tedmund "Ted" Hall and firefighter specialist Arnaldo "Arnie" Quinones, were killed Aug. 30 while fighting the blaze when their truck plunged off a mountain road.
ruby.gonzales@sgvn.com
Ruby Gonzales | Reporter
Ruby Gonzales started working for the company in 1991. Since then she has written about cities, school districts, crimes, cold cases, courts, the San Gabriel River, local history, anime, insects, forensics and the early days of the Internet when people still referred to it as the "information superhighway." Her current beat includes breaking news, crimes and courts for the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Pasadena Star News and Whittier Daily News. When not in crime reporter mode, she frequents the remaining bookstores in the San Gabriel Valley, haunts craft stores or gets dragged to eateries by a relative who is a foodie.
rugonzales@scng.com
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