GLENDORA >> Three men accused of lighting a campfire that grew into the destructive Colby Fire were behind bars with bail amounts of $500,000 each late Thursday, officials said.

Clifford Eugene Henry, 22, of Glendora, Jonathan Carl Jarrell, 23, of Irwindale and Steven Robert Aguirre, 21, a transient whose last known address was in Los Angeles, were booked on suspicion of unlawfully causing a fire of a structure or forest land, Glendora police Lt. Rob Lamborghini said. The charge is a felony that carries a maximum of three years in prison.

The three men were initially being held in lieu of $20,000 bail, however, authorities increased the bail amount to $500,000 each, police Sgt. Michael Hammond said. They are being held at the Glendora Police Department’s jail.

Police Chief Tim Staab said there is no evidence that the three men, who were camping along Colby Trail near Glendora Mountain Road, purposely started the fire.

“It wasn’t an arson,” Staab said. “They are charged with a crime but part of it is criminal stupidity.”

The men had grown cold and placed more paper into a campfire when the fire grew out of control.

A “stiff breeze picked up (the fire),” Staab said. “It quickly spread.”

Police started receiving calls about 6 a.m. of fires in the foothills.

The men fled from the area of the campfire but a resident reported seeing two men who looked suspicious coming down the canyon into the wash.

Cpl. Nancy Miranda, who arrested two of the men, said they were disheveled, dirty and smelled of smoke. They also carried backpacks that contained cigarettes and marijuana.

The other man was walking down Glendora Mountain Road when he was given a ride by a U.S. Forest Service employee to Sierra Madre Avenue. Glendora police talked to the man and determined he was also a suspect in the fire.

Los Angeles County sheriff’s booking records show that Henry and Aguirre were arrested at 6:50 a.m. and Jarrell was arrested at 8:37 a.m.

One of the men reportedly apologized and admitted to setting the campfire that grew out of control, Staab said.

Authorities haven’t made a decision on whether to file charges in state or federal court, Deputy District Attorney Sean Carney said. That decision will be made when the fire’s exact location of origin is determined.

An initial investigation indicated the fire began in a flat area accessible by a small foot trail near Glendora Mountain Road and Colby Trail, said Nathan Judy, a spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service.

Aguirre,

Henry and Jarrell are scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday in West Covina Superior Court.

“I will be very surprised if any of them make bail,” Carney said.

A post made at 7:05 p.m. Wednesday on Jarrell’s Facebook page said “Going to hunt mountain lions — with Cliffy Henry and Steven Winning.”