BUTTE COUNTY, Calif. -- A dispute between neighbors led to the arrest of a Concow resident after the dispute sparked a vegetation fire on Thursday morning, May 22.
Cal Fire Butte County said in a press release they received a 911 call reporting the fire in Concow. When firefighters responded they found an area of burned vegetation about 10 by 10 feet in size in a remote part of the caller's property.
The resident had extinguished the fire, and she reported to Cal Fire officers and the Butte County Sheriff's deputies that there had been a dispute between her and her neighbor, John Sousa.
Following a fire investigation and witness interviews, law enforcement officers responded to Sousa's nearby residence. After recovering evidence from his vehicle and interviewing Sousa, he was arrested and transported to Butte County Jail, where he was booked on one felony count of arson to wildland according to Cal Fire.
Sousa is being held at the Butte County Jail on a $75,000 bail.