SANTA CRUZ — The Santa Cruz County District Attorney’s Office has charged a 19-year-old man with felony arson after firefighters extinguished a downtown vegetation fire Monday night.
The Santa Cruz Police Department arrested Panfilo Velasco Alvarez, most recently of Salinas, just a day after officers took another suspected arsonist into custody, alleged to have started a fire in a hotel elevator, police said.
On Monday, a fire engulfing a large tree and nearby bushes was reported around 8:15 p.m. in a wooded area behind the Town Clock, adjacent to the Santa Cruz Mission State Historic Park grounds and above SCOPE Park.
At one point, firefighters shared concerns that the 30-by-50-foot fire served as a threat to two homes up the hill on School Street. Within half an hour, the Santa Cruz Fire Department had knocked down the fire and police had a man in custody. Santa Cruz police Deputy Chief Jon Bush said officers stopped Velasco Alvarez, covered in water and soot, as he was leaving the scene of the fire. Velasco Alvarez allegedly admitted to starting the fire in an effort to clear brush from around his planned campsite, Bush said.
