Arizona police arrested a man on a charge of arson in connection with a wildfire that torched 2,000 acres of Native American reservation land, destroying homes, triggering evacuations and leaving dozens of residents unsheltered – one of the latest damaging blazes in the West that police have tied to a suspect .
Keanu Dude, 22, was arrested on a charge of arson by the San Carlos Apache Police Department and the Tribe’s game and fish rangers on Tuesday for his alleged role in sparking the so-called Watch Fire. The blaze began on July 10 as a small brush fire but high winds from a thunderstorm caused the flames to rapidly spread in all directions across the San Carlos Apache Reservation, east of Phoenix.
Dude was a member of the San Carlos Apache Tribe, officials said. It remains unclear how exactly the fire was started. Police say the investigation is still active.
“It saddens me deeply that a member of our Tribe has been charged with starting this fire that devastated our community,” San Carlos Apache Tribe Chairman Terry Rambler said in a statement. “Arson is a senseless act that will never be tolerated under any circumstance. I am thankful for the swift and thorough investigation by tribal and federal law enforcement that has resulted in an arrest.”