Couple driving ‘fake fire engine’ arrested trying to enter Palisades fire evacuation zone
A convicted arsonist and his wife were arrested after they were spotted driving a decommissioned fire engine inside the Palisades fire perimeter.
Dustin Nehl, 31, and Jennifer Nehl, 44, from Oregon, were detained on suspicion of impersonating firefighters and unauthorized entry of an evacuation zone in fire-ravaged Los Angeles, the LA County Sheriff’s Department said on Sunday.
Officials said they planned to present the case to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office to consider charging the couple on Tuesday.
Dustin has a criminal history in Oregon for criminal mischief and arson after setting fire to the grounds of an affluent country club, the LASD revealed. A Los Angeles Magazine feature noted that the couple are from the same area where Josephine Overaker, and her eco-terrorism group The Family, operated. Overaker is thought to have fled to Europe in 2001.
The Family was active in the 1990s and 2000s. The group targeted a horticulture center at the University of Washington; a federally owned wild horse corral in Susanville, California; and a horse slaughterhouse in Redmond, Oregon, among other properties.
The LA Police Department was patrolling the Palisades fire area – which has scorched more than 23,700 acres and stands at 59 percent contained – besides local firefighters on Saturday when they “observed a fire truck that did not appear to be legitimate,” the sheriff’s department said.
After alerting the LASD, investigators with its Major Crimes Bureau were called to assist deputies who had pulled over the pair.
The Nehls were both wearing yellow turnout gear, Cal Fire t-shirts and equipped with helmets and radios, authorities said.
They claimed to be from the “Roaring River Fire Department” in Oregon, which deputies later learned was a fabricated deparment.
The fire engine, which was emblazoned with the fake department name, was purchased from an auction, officials said. It had been fitted with emergency lights, California license plates and an American flag.
The truck is believed to have been used by a Northern California fire department and had been decommissioned about 30 years ago prior to being auctioned, a law enforcement source told the Los Angeles Times. It was impounded by authorities on Saturday.
Authorities said the suspects also admitted to being in the evacuation zone a day prior to their arrest.
He had previously served five years in prison after pleading guilty to setting a series of fires at a golf course, a park and a water facility in Woodburn between 2013 and 2017.
A motive for either suspect has not yet been revealed.
According to Jennifer Nehl’s Facebook page, she gave birth to the couple’s child in November 2024. Tragically, their child, Makeena, died in December at less than a month old after suffering from health problems from birth.
At least 27 people have died, more than 12,000 homes and structures scorched and hundreds of thousands of residents being placed under evacuation orders since the first brush fire broke out in the Pacific Palisades on January 7.
California officials warned of severe sanctions against those looking to take advantage of the wildfires which ravaged across the LA area.
Governor Gavin Newsom called for prosecuting looting as a felony in fire evacuation zones.
“Preying on people at their most vulnerable is despicable, these criminals are among the worst kinds,” Newsom told Fox News on Thursday.
Last week, officials announced that at least nine people had been charged with looting and further arrests made on suspicion of looting in areas evacuated because of the wildfires.
