California man charged with setting wildfire surrenders
The Northern California man charged with starting the largest wildfire in recorded history to sweep through the Sierra Nevada mountains has turned himself in to authorities.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Sacramento said Tuesday that Keith Matthew Emerald surrendered to U.S Marshals Service in Fresno. The 32-year-old is scheduled to appear in the afternoon in federal court for arraignment on a four-count indictment.
The 2013 fire burned 400 square miles in Yosemite National Park and the Stanislaus National Forest.
Prosecutors say Emerald was hunting deer with a bow the day the fire started in August and started an illegal campfire that got out of control. He had to be rescued from the flames.
His attorney has declined to comment.
