Man held in string of blazes

Authorities have arrested a man with a history of arson dating back to the 1970s, alleging that he set a series of small blazes in northern Los Angeles County last month as firefighters were battling several massive brush fires.

County sheriff’s officials said Rickey Jimenez, 52, drove around the Lake Hughes area late at night, setting at least eight new brush fires in remote brush-covered locations.

All were extinguished quickly. But Sheriff’s Department spokesman Steve Whitmore said fires were started at a time when firefighting resources across the region were already stretched to the breaking point by 12 major fires from northern Los Angeles County to the Mexican border.

“You couldn’t have asked for a more dangerous time to set the fires,” Whitmore said.

Jimenez, who was arrested Wednesday night, served an 11-year prison sentence for setting earlier fires.

He was in the news in 1988 after he was arrested in connection with arson fires at 13 nail salons and other businesses around the San Fernando Valley. He was later convicted in the case. In 1979, he was convicted of setting a school on fire.

Officials said the case underscores the problem of serial and copycat arsonists, who have been responsible for some major blazes.

In addition to the fires blamed on Jimenez, authorities have determined that at least half a dozen of the more than 30 blazes that broke out during the October firestorm in Southern California -- which scorched more than half a million acres and destroyed hundreds of homes -- were deliberately set, as was the 2003 Old fire in the Lake Arrowhead area.

Tom Fee, president of the International Assn. of Arson Investigators, said big fire events tend to have a cascading effect for those with a predisposition toward setting fires.

Fee said that when he worked at the Pomona Fire Department, a major fire in the foothills of that community often resulted in other fires from copycats.

“I could plan on several fires involving Dumpsters, vacant lots and garage-type structures,” Fee said.

For nearly two decades, officials have known of Jimenez’s fire-setting. According to court records, he was first convicted in 1979, at age 24, of an arson fire at a San Fernando school.

A decade later, he was arrested and charged in a string of arson-related burglaries, also in the Valley, near where he lived.

The fires in the 13 shops, in Van Nuys, Panorama City and Sepulveda, occurred on five mornings. They took place during the same period that detectives were tracking a string of burglaries in the same type of business. Jimenez eventually pleaded guilty to six of the original 17 counts. He was sentenced to state prison.

Upon his release, he was placed in a state database that tracks arsonists and requires them to register their addresses with local authorities. Failing to do so can result in a probation violation or a misdemeanor charge.

The fires that prompted authorities to arrest Jimenez this week broke out late Oct. 27 and early Oct. 28.

According to authorities, someone driving north on Lake Hughes Road set three fires using “an open flame” in the brush near the roadway about a mile south of the town of Lake Hughes. The arsonist then got back in his vehicle and drove to Pine Canyon Road before starting three more fires, sheriff’s detectives said.

The person started two blazes around 3 a.m., about a mile from the second location.

Sheriff’s arson investigators, working with special agents from the U.S. Forest Service, were dispatched to the three fire scenes. After examining them, investigators quickly saw a pattern, Whitmore said.

Authorities consulted with the county registry of convicted arsonists to determine if there were any that lived near the scenes.

Jimenez, who resides in the Lake Elizabeth-Lake Hughes area, was quickly identified as a “person of interest” and questioned, Whitmore said.

Jimenez is being held in lieu of $1-million bail. The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office is reviewing the case to determine whether to file charges.

Tom Hoffman, chief of law enforcement for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said it’s not often that the database yields arrests for arson, which is considered one of the most difficult crimes to solve.

In addition to registering in the state database, convicted arsonists are required to submit a DNA sample, as well as palm and fingerprints. They must register with the law enforcement agency where they live, and when they move outside the county, they must report within two weeks to officials in both their new and old locations. Failure to comply could result in a return to prison, if the arsonist is still on probation, or a misdemeanor charge.

There are 3,721 registered arsonists in California, including 773 in Los Angeles County, 146 in Orange County, 221 in Riverside County, 258 in San Bernardino County, 252 in San Diego County, 39 in Ventura County and 30 in Santa Barbara County.

In the Lake Hughes case, none of the fires caused injuries or threatened homes. But authorities say that was luck. By the time Jimenez allegedly started the fires, the Santa Ana winds were dying down.

“If we hadn’t had a situation like that, Lake Hughes could have been seriously threatened,” Whitmore said.

andrew.blankstein@ latimes.com