JACKSON CO., Or.- Today, a grand jury indicted the man Medford police are charging with lighting a vehicle on fire near Emigrant Lake the same day the Almeda fire sparked.
45-year-old Vance Nguyen is in Jackson County jail on a first-degree arson charge.
Today Nguyen appeared before a judge and pled “not guilty.”
Police arrested Nguyen after investigating a vehicle that was set on fire near Emigrant Lake.
Greensprings firefighters says they found the vehicle in flames, with a propane tank on the top of it.
They tell us the direction of the wind that day prevented it from spreading to nearby brush.
Ashland police previously told us they were investigating whether this incident is connected to the Almeda fire, which started just a half hour earlier on the other side of Ashland.
We have not heard an update from them on that investigation.
© 2024 KOBI-TV NBC5. All rights reserved unless otherwise stated.