While conducting a follow-up investigation early Friday morning at a burning chicken coop, CAL FIRE investigators arrested 50-year-old Alfredo Joel Cuevas for wildland arson.

On Thursday, fire units from CAL FIRE's Amador-El Dorado unit, El Dorado County Fire Protection District, Diamond Springs Fire Protection District, and the El Dorado County Sheriff's Department responded to a reported vegetation fire in the area of Chapin Road and Excelsior Road in Placerville. Arriving fire units extinguished the small grass fire, which charred approximately a quarter of an acre.

The initial 911 caller reported seeing a person leave the area where the fire started. Later that same evening, fire units were dispatched back to the area for a smoking stick. They returned again around 3:30 a.m. Friday for a 50-foot by 50-foot grass fire involving a chicken coop, where they arrested Cuevas.