A 960-acre brush fire sparked in the Woodland Hills area near the 101 Freeway Thursday afternoon. The Los Angeles Fire Department said that the fire was quickly burning toward the south, relatively close to homes before they were able to establish perimeter lines.

Residents of Los Angeles’ Woodland Hills neighborhood helped police stop and detain a man with a blowtorch on Thursday, January 9, suspecting him of arson as the Kenneth Fire burned nearby.This footage captured by Chris Sumner shows community members confronting a man with a blowtorch in Woodland Hills,

The suspect, who was not named, was arrested near the Kenneth Fire at about 4:30 p.m. when police were called out to a report of a man attempting to light a fire in the 21700 block of Ybarra Road in Woodland Hills. Police were helped by residents who secured the man until law enforcement arrived.

LAPD officials confirm a man was taken into custody Thursday afternoon but cautioned that he has not been connected to lighting anything ablaze

A 50-acre brush fire, the Kenneth Fire, sparked in the Woodland Hills area near the 101 Freeway Thursday afternoon.

A person of interest was taken into custody but had not been arrested as of Thursday evening. The alleged arson was reported about 5 and a half miles from the approximate start of the Kenneth fire, near Victory Boulevard west of Gilmore Street in West Hills.

Residents said they jumped in to stop the man after they saw him trying to light Christmas trees and trash cans on fire using a large blowtorch.

With several devastating wildfires already burning in the Los Angeles region, another brush fire forced evacuation orders in Woodland Hills on Thursday afternoon.