A 29-year-old man faces a felony arson charge after deputies investigating a small brush fire near Dandini Boulevard over the weekend located a vehicle nearby.
According to the Washoe County Sheriff's Office in an online post, patrol deputies saw a vehicle enter the roadway from a vacant dirt lot near the roundabout at Dandini and Spectrum Boulevards without its headlights on. They then noticed a small brush fire burning in the area the vehicle had just left.
Deputies immediately moved to extinguish the fire. They found what appeared to be several split wooden logs stacked in a teepee formation among the surrounding sagebrush.
Firefighters were called to the area to make sure the extinguished fire posed no additional threat.
Deputies later located the vehicle at a nearby business and contacted the driver. During the investigation, they said they found multiple split wooden logs, matches, lighters, charcoal lighter fluid, and tumbleweed fire starters inside the front cab of the vehicle .
Deputies arrested 29-year-old Damien Pineda-Contreras in connection with the fire.
Pineda-Contreras was taken to the Washoe County Detention Facility, where he was booked on a felony charge of third-degree arson.
(The Washoe County Sheriff's Office contributed to this story.)
