Latest: Suspicious fires prompt search for truck in Oregon

The Latest on wildfires in the U.S. West (all times local):

10:35 a.m.

ALBANY, Ore. — An Oregon sheriff says authorities are searching for a person suspected of setting eight suspicious fires around the communities of Sweet Home and Brownsville early Monday morning.

The area is about 60 miles (96 kilometres) southwest of a large fire that wiped out numerous communities in Oregon’s Santiam Valley and forced thousands to evacuate.

Linn County Sheriff Jim Yon says deputies are searching for a 1990s Nissan pickup truck that’s either white or silver with a black canopy. The truck was seen in the area of one of the fires.

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10:15 a.m.

PORTLAND, Ore. — Authorities say a homeless man with mental health issues was arrested early Monday on suspicion of starting seven small brush fires in Portland, Oregon, in the past 24 hours.

Police say 45-year-old Domingo Lopez Jr., was arrested on charges of reckless burning and disorderly conduct after starting a small brush fire with a Molotov cocktail Sunday afternoon.

He was arrested again early Monday morning on six additional counts of reckless burning after police say he lit multiple fires west of Interstate 205.

Firefighters extinguished three and community members put out three others.

No one was injured and no structures were damaged. Police say Lopez was taken to a hospital for a mental health evaluation.

The FBI and state and local authorities say there is not truth to rumours circulating online that anti-fascist activists started fires in Oregon.

The Associated Press