Grants Pass woman charged with setting 11 fires

A Grants Pass woman has been charged with setting 11 fires last Thursday evening in the Cave Junction area of Josephine County, Oregon State Police said.

KOBI-TV reports fire officials said the blazes were started by a woman carrying a highway flare through a Cave Junction neighborhood, setting trash piles on fire. A few were set near the property line of Evergreen Elementary School.

The Illinois Valley Fire Department worked with OSP arson detectives and sheriff’s deputies to identify a suspect, Evelyn Maxine Barrera, 25, OSP Captain Tim Fox said.

Barrera was found by an OSP patrol trooper and taken into custody on Friday and she was booked into the Josephine County Jail, where she remained Monday.

Jail records showed Barrera was arrested along U.S. Highway 199 and was being held on $100,000 bail and facing 27 charges, including five counts of first-degree arson, six counts of second-degree arson, 11 counts of reckless burning, three counts of recklessly endangering another and single counts of second-degree burglary and second-degree criminal mischief.