A 43-year-old man was arrested Thursday afternoon for allegedly setting multiple vegetation fires in Santa Barbara over the last week, according to the Santa Barbara Police Department.

Police officers responded shortly after noon to the 2300 block of Modoc Road, where city firefighters were dousing a small vegetation fire, police Lt. Antonio Montojo said.

Upon arrival, they discovered a second vegetation fire on the 2500 block of Modoc Road.

“During the response, an additional Santa Barbara police officer patrolling the 3500 block of Modoc … located a third brush fire and contacted an adult male in the immediate area,” Montojo said.

That man, Calletano Bedolla-Bibiano, admitted to starting all three fires, Montojo said, and he was arrested and booked into the Santa Barbara County Jail on suspicion of multiple counts of arson.

Further investigation linked Bedolla-Bibiano to four additional vegetation fires that occurred the previous weekend on the 3600 block of State Street, Montojo added.

Investigators and the city fire marshal also responded to assist with the investigation.