51-year-old Forrest Gordon Clark was arrested in southern California on suspicion of deliberate arson.

It is his police who are responsible for the fires in the mountains of southern California. This focus - one of the three epicenters of the California fires - was called "Saint", because the flame on this site rises to the skies, resembling a biblical fire.

"Saint" has already destroyed more than 9.6 thousand. acres of forest, the Air Force notes..

The court decided to elect him a preventive measure in the form of detention and named the extremely high amount of possible collateral - $ 1 million.

As Orange County officials reported, Clark sent a threatening letter to the head of the local voluntary fire brigade. "This place will be burnt," it was said in the email.

Clark resisted the arrest, so he was charged not only with arson, but also with terrorism and resistance at arrest.

The authorities say that the arson committed by Clark on Monday was the end of his longstanding dispute with his neighbors.

The fire destroyed all 12 nearby houses, except the house of Clark himself.

Susan Schroeder, a spokeswoman for the Orange County Public Prosecutor's Office, said the arsonist would be prosecuted "for these terrible crimes".

This year's forest fires became the strongest in the history of California. Localize the fire - that is, stop the spread of fire, but do not extinguish it - it is possible only in half of the territory covered by a flame. The fire will rage at least until the first week of September, the fire department said.

According to the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection of California, the fire covered 600 thousand acres and is still expanding. While firefighters control about five percent of the entire area of ??fire due to extremely high temperatures. The authorities expect that after a slight cold snap on the weekend firefighters will be able to work more actively.

This year's fires have three powerful centers - the Mendocino Complex, the Carr and the Saint.

The largest of them is the "Mendocino Complex Fire". His education was led by the unification of two separate large fires. In this area for two weeks, the area covered by fire, equal to the territory of Los Angeles.

In the north, in the district of Shasta, a separate fire rages, called "Carr" (Carr fire). He burned more than 176 thousand. acres of wood, destroyed more than a thousand homes and caused the death of at least seven people. In the south of the state, another fire center, called the "Holy Fire". It was this ignition that was due to Clark's fault, as the police.

Nearly 14,000 people take part in extinguishing fires, including firefighters from Arizona, Washington State and Alaska. They are assisted by the military, as well as specialists from Australia and New Zealand, who specially for work in the US were trained in Idaho. To combat fire, aviation is used.

To extinguish fires attracted even prisoners. More than 1,000 prisoners with low recurrence potential work on a voluntary basis and receive $ 2 a day, plus $ 1 for every hour of work.

Two firefighters suffered during the extinguishing of the "Saint" and are in the hospital.

While it is not known what caused the ignition of the "Mendocino Complex".

But the cause of the fire "Carr" is already installed - it is the ignition of the flat tire. The spark from the friction of tires and asphalt on July 23 grew into a deadly fire that has been raging for more than two weeks.

Three of the most powerful fire centers in California - Mendocino, Carr and Saint - will not be extinguished by mid-August, US state officials.

Prior to this, the largest fire in the history of the state was considered "Thomas" (Thomas Fire), which occurred in the districts of Santa Barbara and Ventura in 2017.