ANADARKO, Okla., Jan. 5 (UPI) -- The 18-year-old son of an Oklahoma firefighter has been charged with three felony counts of arson involving wildfires plaguing the tinder-dry state.
Justin Wilkerson was arraigned in Anadarko. Okla., on three counts of arson involving fires set on Monday, and bail was set at $10,000, The New York Times reported Thursday.
The charges were connected to a large grass fire next to the house of the teenager's grandmother, and to a second blaze in an unoccupied nearby house.
Other fires are under investigation, including a case in Seminole, a town east of Oklahoma City, in which witnesses saw someone throw something out of a car window Wednesday, setting a pasture on fire. An "incendiary device" was later found in the field, said local fire chief Ed Lemmings.
Since Nov. 1, wildfires in Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico have scorched more than 600,000 acres of land, and killed three people in Texas and two in Oklahoma.
