Man pleads guilty to arson for Sweet Creek Fire near Mapleton, sentenced to 10 years

A large evergreen tree erupts in flames during a controlled back burn on the hills on the south side of the Siuslaw Rive about two mile west of Mapleton. Firefighters continued to work on containing the Sweet Creek Mile Post 2 wildfire on Wednesday, September 2, that has burned near Mapleton, Oregon, since Sunday. The fire, which is speculated to have been lit intentionally by a suspect who has since been arraigned on arson charges, is now roughly 350 acres in size and has about 420 firefighters combating it according to Oregon Department of Forestry PIO Marcus Kauffman. Kauffman said steady progress has been made in containing the fire and he was confident the situation would improve heading into the weekend despite weather forecasts of high heat and low humidity. Photo by Dan Morrison