The fire truck stopped at a checkpoint Saturday morning near where emergency workers were sifting through debris caused by the Palisades fire.
The driver told National Guard troops guarding the perimeter that he was a volunteer firefighter, a law enforcement source with knowledge of the incident told The Times.
They had little reason to believe otherwise, said the official, who was not authorized to speak to the media and requested anonymity. The man was wearing a yellow firefighter uniform and driving a full-size red fire truck equipped with emergency lights, California license plates and an American flag.
Two people who were arrested on suspicion of impersonating firefighters arrived at the Palisades fire in a decommissioned fire truck, police say.
(Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department)
But a firefighter at the checkpoint noticed something strange about the truck's decals, which had “Roaring River Fire Department” markings, the official said. He told Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies to check the man's identification.
According to the law enforcement official, the man presented an Oregon driver's license under the name Dustin Nehl. A search of Nehl's criminal record revealed that he had served five years in prison for arson, the official said.
In 2017, KATU, a Portland television station, reported that Nehl pleaded guilty to setting a series of fires at a golf course, a park and a water facility in Woodburn, Oregon, a city about 30 miles to the south. from Portland.
Nehl, 31, and his wife, Jennifer Nehl, 44, who was with him, were arrested on suspicion of impersonating firefighters and trespassing into an evacuation zone, Sheriff's Department officials said Sunday. of Los Angeles County. Sheriff's officials said they planned to ask the Los Angeles County district attorney's office to file charges against the couple on Tuesday.
Authorities said the couple arrested Saturday were wearing firefighting gear.
(Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department)
Dustin Nehl is not the first accused of posing as emergency personnel to access an evacuation zone. Last week, Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said his officers caught a robbery suspect in the Palisades fire zone who was dressed as a firefighter.
Ivan Cedric Reed, 34, was wearing a yellow firefighter's uniform and carrying a radio when police found him on Clifftop Way in Malibu on Tuesday night, prosecutors said in announcing that Reed was charged with receiving stolen property, impersonating by a firefighter, illegal use of a badge and unauthorized entry into a closed disaster area.
“We have people who will go to great lengths to do what they do,” McDonnell said.
Neither of the Nehls have been charged with burglarizing unoccupied homes in the Pacific Palisades area, but the source with knowledge of their arrest said officers found tools in the fire truck that could be used by thieves. They also confiscated a map showing burned areas and radios tuned to frequencies used by city and county fire departments, the official said.
The truck, originally used by a Northern California fire department, was decommissioned about 30 years ago and auctioned off, the source said.
It was unclear how long Nehl had been in Los Angeles, but the official said he introduced himself as a firefighter to get free lodging at a local Holiday Inn Express.
