A 60-year-old and his son have been arrested as part of an investigation into the origin of a gigantic forest fire that swept nearly 900 km2 in northern California this summer, local authorities said on Wednesday.
David Smith, 66, and Travis Smith, 32, are accused of having started the fire that caused the Caldor Fire on August 14 near Lake Tahoe, a wooded and very touristy area in California.
The El Dorado County Prosecutor's Office qualified in a press release the facts alleged against them as "arson", without further clarification.
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The blaze, which was only brought under control after 67 days, left five people injured and destroyed a thousand residential or commercial buildings, according to California firefighters.
In the middle of the summer, the flames of the Caldor Fire had caused the evacuation of several dozen people in this region located near the largest alpine lake in North America, on the border with Nevada.
