Newell Fire: Cause remains under investigation while person of interest recovers in the hospital

ByRyan Curry KGO logo
Wednesday, October 13, 2021
Newell Fire: Cause unknown, person of interest in hospital
Newell Fire: Cause unknown, person of interest in hospitalCALFIRE and the Napa County Sheriff's office say a 26-year-old man is a person of interest in their investigation of the Newell Fire.

AMERICAN CANYON, Calif. (KGO) -- CALFIRE and the Napa County Sheriff's office say a 26-year-old man is a person of interest in their investigation of the Newell Fire. The man was detained by authorities Monday, and is still recovering from burns in the hospital.

Authorities say they are investigating his relation to a burning car found near the Newell Fire in American Canyon Monday evening.

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"There was a subject leaving the area of the fire where there was a vehicle off road," said Napa County Sheriff Oscar Ortiz. "He tried to flee our deputies, but thanks to some help we apprehended him."

They say that man might be in the hospital for a few days. He is currently not a suspect in relation to the fire.

CALFIRE says the Newell fire is now 100% contained. It has stopped spreading, but they are keeping crews onsite to put out hotspots.

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"There is still some areas that are burning a little bit, you might not be seeing flames, but there are still some areas of concern," said Erick Hernandez, with Napa CALFIRE.

The area that burned is on a hillside near American Canyon High School. No structures were damaged and evacuation orders are lifted. They say around 132 acres burned, but with high winds still in the area, CALFIRE has crews on high alert.

"We already knew we would be facing some challenges so our station decided to step up and increase and augment our crews at our stations and also our air support," Hernandez said.

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