The hearth truck pulled as much as a checkpoint Saturday morning close to the place emergency employees had been sifting by means of the wreckage brought on by the Palisades hearth.
The motive force instructed the Nationwide Guard troops manning the perimeter that he was a volunteer firefighter, a regulation enforcement supply with data of the incident instructed The Occasions.
They’d little motive to consider in any other case, mentioned the official, who wasn’t licensed to talk with the media and requested anonymity. The person was carrying a yellow firefighter uniform — and he was driving a full-size crimson hearth engine outfitted with emergency lights, California license plates and an American flag.
Two individuals who have been arrested on suspicion of impersonating firefighters arrived on the Palisades hearth in a decommissioned hearth engine, police say.
(Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Division)
However a firefighter on the checkpoint observed one thing off concerning the decals on the truck, which had markings from the “Roaring River Fireplace Division,” the official mentioned. He instructed Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies to test the person’s ID.
In accordance with the regulation enforcement official, the person introduced an Oregon driver’s license with the identify of Dustin Nehl. A search of Nehl’s felony historical past revealed he had served 5 years in jail for arson, the official mentioned.
In 2017, KATU, a Portland TV station, reported that Nehl pleaded responsible to setting a collection of fires at a golf course, a park and a water facility in Woodburn, Ore., a metropolis about 30 miles south of Portland.
Nehl, 31, and his spouse, 44-year-old Jennifer Nehl — who was with him — had been arrested on suspicion of impersonating firefighters and unauthorized entry of an evacuation zone, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Division officers mentioned Sunday. Sheriff’s officers mentioned they deliberate to ask the Los Angeles County district lawyer’s workplace to cost the couple on Tuesday.
Officers mentioned the pair arrested Saturday had been carrying firefighting gear.
(Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Division)
Dustin Nehl isn’t the primary to be accused of impersonating emergency personnel to realize entry to an evacuation zone. Final week, Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell mentioned his officers caught a housebreaking suspect within the Palisades hearth zone who was dressed as a firefighter.
Ivan Cedric Reed, 34, was carrying a yellow firefighter’s uniform and carrying a radio when police discovered him on Clifftop Means in Malibu on Tuesday night, prosecutors mentioned in saying that Reed was charged with receiving stolen property, impersonating a firefighter, illegal use of a badge and unauthorized entry of a closed catastrophe space.
“We have now individuals who will go to all ends to do what they do,” McDonnell mentioned.
Neither of the Nehls have been accused of stealing from unoccupied houses within the Pacific Palisades space, however the supply with data of his arrest mentioned deputies discovered instruments within the hearth truck that might be utilized by burglars. In addition they seized a map displaying burn areas and radios tuned to frequencies utilized by metropolis and county hearth departments, the official mentioned.
The truck, initially utilized by a Northern California hearth division, had been decommissioned about 30 years in the past and auctioned off, the supply mentioned.
It wasn’t clear how lengthy Nehl had been in Los Angeles, however the official mentioned he introduced himself as a firefighter to get free lodging at a neighborhood Vacation Inn Specific.
