A resident of Cottonwood has been arrested for a series of arson fires set in Anderson Friday morning, and detectives are trying to tie him to the series of fires that has laid a pall of anxiety over Cottonwood. Starting in July, more than 40 arson fires have been set in the Cottonwood area. It seemed Friday morning that the arsonist had moved on to Anderson. At 3AM a vegetation fire was set at the end of Pleasant Hills Drive. That was followed by three structure fires: an outbuilding on South Street at 4AM, a house on Nathan Drive at 4:20AM and a house on Driftstone Drive at 5:10AM. Both houses were occupied but nobody was injured. Earlier in the week Shasta County Sheriff’s Major Crimes Detectives had been following a lead. A red four-door compact car had been captured on video surveillance near some of the fires on October 14th and 20th. When the first fire was reported Friday, saturation patrols began with the help of Anderson Police and Fire and Cal-Fire. At 5:15AM detectives saw a red Nissan Sentra leaving the Driftstone Drive area just after the fire was set. It was occupied by 19-year-old Samuel Villa Scholfield. He was interviewed and charged with arson for Friday’s fires. Bail is set at $800,000. Scholfield’s home is 3315 Chestnut Street in Cottonwood, a location that’s central to the original 14 arson fires, including the house fire that killed 86-year-old Barcie Miller. Evidence is still being gathered and detectives are still seeking video and eyewitness reports of that red Sentra or Sam Scholfield in the area of any of the fires.