A portion of the complaint filed against Oregonians Dustin and Jennifer Nehl by the Los Angeles County DA’s Office, alleging the couple impersonated a fire officer and attempted unauthorized entry of close disaster area
The Los Angeles County District Attorney charged an Oregon couple with impersonating a fire officer and attempted unauthorized entry of close disaster area, both misdemeanors, in a Los Angeles County Courthouse earlier today.
The complaint alleges Dustin Nehl, 31, and Jennifer Nehl, 44, of Scio, Oregon, wore uniforms or otherwise portrayed themselves as fire department officials “with the intent of fraudulently impersonating” a fire official and attempted to enter the closed Palisades Fire disaster area without authorization.
The Nehls were arrested near the closed-off area around the Palisades Fire Sunday. The LA Count DA’s office told me the Nehls were expected to enter a plea in response to the charges this afternoon.
The couple allegedly drove a full-size firetruck emblazoned with “Roaring River Fire” into the recently burned area, claiming they were volunteer firefighters. Police were contacted when someone noticed the fire truck, which had California plates, did not look quite right, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The Nehls combine a longstanding interest in fire, climate change and weather, according to media reports and the couples’ social media accounts and Dustin Nehl’s mother.
Dustin Nehl was sentenced in 2016 to five years in prison and three years post-incarceration supervision for arson and possession of a destructive device related to damage caused in incidents from 2013 to 2016 to a country club and a water treatment facility in Woodburn. According to Dustin Nehl’s mother, Marlene Nehl, Dustin served four years in prison prior to his release in 2020.
Dustin Nehl’s Facebook posts over the years mostly focus on heavy equipment and motor sports, with some posts critical of Joe Biden and one post from July 31, 2024, sharing a video from the “climate.united_we_can” account saying “High temperatures, wind and extreme dryness have triggered wildfires,” as fires raged throughout Oregon.
On July 4, 2021, Nehl posted a photo on Facebook with the caption “Tired of just watching it burn? Then give the forests back to the loggers and learn.”
Jennifer Nehl, formerly Jennifer Hastings, is an educator who focuses on teaching weather and climate to incarcerated youth, according to her Facebook and LinkedIn pages. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration highlighted Hastings in 2023 for helping her students create “weather raps,” “in which they discuss weather safety, process their concerns about climate change and environmental hazards, and explore the ways that underserved communities are more vulnerable to environmental hazards.”
According to Marlene Nehl, Dustin’s mother, reached yesterday, Dustin and Jennifer, who both have a wildland firefighting background, traveled to Los Angeles for the purpose of “just helping out” with the fire. The couple late last year suffered the tragic loss of their three-week-old baby, according to Marlene.
The Roaring River flows just behind Marlene’s house, where she says Dustin usually parked the fire truck.
Dustin Nehl’s YouTube account features a video of him, and the fire truck, at the scene of a house fire near Scio in October, while firefighters fought the blaze. In the video, Nehl says he knew the occupants of the house. A report from KEZI TV the day after the fire said the cause of the fire was under investigation. Scio and Lebanon fire officials told KTVL TV neither Dustin nor Jennifer Nehl were affiliated with either department.
A call to the Scio fire district today went straight to voicemail.
This article originally appeared on the Oregon Roundup.