A mentally ill refugee from China was sentenced to probation for accidentally setting a wildfire that destroyed 118 homes in Altadena.
Andres Huang was sentenced Tuesday to three years' probation and ordered to live at the Asian Pacific Residential Treatment Center, a Los Angeles board-and-care home for the mentally disabled.He has been diagnosed by psychiatrists as having major depression, schizophrenia and brain lesions.
Huang, 35, pleaded no contest Nov. 29 to a misdemeanor count of starting an illegal open fire. He faced a maximum six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.
He set a fire Oct. 27 in the San Gabriel Mountain foothills to keep warm, but it got out of control and ultimately destroyed 118 homes in Altadena.
A series of fires swept Southern California this fall, killing four people and causing $1 billion in damage. Authorities said 19 fires were set.