Man accused of setting fire to power line in San Bernardino County pleads not guilty – San Bernardino Sun

A Norco man accused of intentionally starting the 39,000-acre Line Fire that forced thousands of residents of Highland and the San Bernardino Mountains to flee pleaded not guilty to nine counts of arson on Tuesday, Sept. 17.

Justin Wayne Halstenberg, 34, appeared in San Bernardino Superior Court via surveillance camera from the West Valley Detention Center in San Bernardino, where he is being held without the possibility of bail.

Halstenberg is charged with one count of aggravated arson, three counts of wildland arson, three counts of possession of arson material or devices, one count of arson of an inhabited structure and one count of arson causing great bodily harm.

Prosecutors said Halstenberg used an unspecified incendiary device at the corner of Base Line Road and Alpin Street in Highland on Sept. 5. He attempted to set the fire twice earlier in the day, prosecutors said.

Four firefighters were reported injured.

Halstenberg is represented by the San Bernardino County Public Defender's Office.

The next hearing was scheduled for September 23.