Transient charged with setting blaze 6 days before Station fire



Officials say they're still investigating whether Babatunsin Olukunle, a 25-year-old Nigerian national, may have played a role in the massive Station wildfire as well.

By Richard Winton and Andrew Blankstein

October 20, 2009

A man sought for questioning in the massive Station wildfire that killed two firefighters has been arrested and charged with setting a smaller blaze less than a week before in Angeles National Forest, authorities said Monday.

Babatunsin Olukunle, a 25-year-old Nigerian national, appeared briefly in a Pasadena courtroom and pleaded not guilty to the felony charge of setting a fire Aug. 20 on U.S. Forest Service land.

"We are going to talk to him about the Station fire, but we're not going to list him as a suspect [in that fire] just yet," said Los Angeles County Sheriff's Lt. Liam Gallagher, who is leading the arson-homicide probe.

The arrest comes as officials announced Friday that the largest brush fire in Los Angeles County history had finally been contained -- a full 52 days after it started.

The blaze burned 160,577 acres and cost an estimated $95.2 million to fight, according to authorities.

The fire broke out Aug. 26 off Angeles Crest Highway near a ranger station north of La Cañada Flintridge.

While officials have determined the fire was deliberately set, they have struggled to develop solid leads pointing to the arsonist.

Olukunle was arrested Thursday collecting recyclables in Lancaster, more than a week after detectives announced they wanted to question him. It remains unclear what role, if any, he played in the Station blaze.

Law enforcement sources familiar with the case said that investigators so far have firm evidence only that the transient set a small fire six days before the Station fire.

That earlier fire occurred at mile marker 36 of Angeles Crest Highway, approximately six miles from where the Station fire erupted. Like the Station fire, the earlier blaze was started off Angeles Crest Highway during the afternoon.

Two Forest Service employees who spotted Olukunle setting the first blaze ordered him to stay put while they extinguished the flames. But investigators say he slipped away into the woods.

Detectives received several tips about a transient walking up and down Angeles Crest Highway for several months before the Station fire. Detectives believe Olukunle was that transient.

Olukunle's family has told investigators that he came home from UC Davis for summer break in 2007, began acting strangely and disappeared in July.

He was arrested in November 2007 in Redondo Beach for "illegal camping" and in April of this year he was placed on a 72-hour mental-observation hold by authorities in Crescenta Valley.

Los Angeles Times: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-station-fire20-2009oct20,0,2477803.story

This is just sad, this guy went from studying at UC Davis (one of the best universities in California) to living as a transient in a forest. I am really interested into knowing what exactly happened to him in the summer he came back from school, people just don't go mentally unstable for no reason.

omg dis niggu is sooo fuckin ugly lol

as if the parents came to america for dis fool to be starting fires(maybe) and living in the woods ode oshi
went to a good uni probably would have went on to become very successful

he must have went MAD

^^^^

dnt lie, u know that guy look less uglier than u

ikeyodes

half bro

sjeezy8:

omg dis niggu is sooo fuckin ugly lol

as if the parents came to america for dis fool to be starting fires(maybe) and living in the woods ode oshi
went to a good uni probably would have went on to become very successful

he must have went MAD

Did you read the story? Where is your compassion for our fellow countryman who appears to be unstable?
Please be sensitive to issues like this. I am certain this is painful for his family and friends.

hope they not pinning the fire on him

*Hauwa*:

hope they not pinning the fire on him

Not yet though, they would eventually but it has to pass through a humane way.

Now you see, God don't like ugly! so for the authorities to slowly work into the mind of the people they had to first get an ugly picture of the dude. Taking a picture of him when he just arrived the country would have generated too much sympathy and the people would have forgotten that there was a fire. Now we get angry after seeing the picture, and many people would be like,,,,,,,,,,,,Damn that ugly toad come over here to burn our country? send him back to monkeyland!,,,,,,,,,,,lol

I feel sorry for the dude however!

What a pity! I wonder if the guy was under pressure and flipped?

On a lighter note, the guys real pic is below. The one the OP posted is really sjeezy8. . . Fugly mofo!

you father is a fisherman yeye boy

^
Ask your mother. He's your real father too. . .

drugs i'm sure

sjeezy8:

omg dis niggu is sooo fuckin ugly lol

as if the parents came to america for dis fool to be starting fires(maybe) and living in the woods ode oshi
went to a good uni probably would have went on to become very successful

he must have went MAD

God oh. . . . . It was only a matter of time before that token insensitive person showed up. Did it have to be you?

yes very hideous lookin guy

I said maybe meaning IF
Nigerian or indian doesnt change my opinion

I say try his arse and fry him if he's guilty.
If he's crazy, then commit him. Hope they don't deport crazies back to Nigeria.

texazzpete:

I say try his arse and fry him if he's guilty.
If he's crazy, then commit him. Hope they don't deport crazies back to Nigeria.

Sure they would!