REDDING, Calif. – Fire officials say a 29-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of arson and murder in a blaze over the summer that destroyed dozens of homes and left one person dead in rural Northern California.
State fire Capt. Scott McLean says Zane Wallace Peterson, of Happy Valley, started two fires that turned into the September Clover Fire in Shasta County. The fire burned more than 12 square miles over about a week before it was contained.
The fire also destroyed more than 50 homes and claimed the life of 56-year-old Brian Henry. Peterson was arrested on Tuesday.
Shasta County Senior Deputy District Attorney Ben Hanna tells the Record Searchlight of Redding (http://bit.ly/1bQvw9a) Peterson was a former firefighter.
The newspaper says a woman who answered the phone at Peterson's home declined to comment.
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