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OAKLAND — A man arrested in connection with a road-rage incident last week is suspected of using a cigarette lighter to spark a 20-acre blaze later the same day in the East Bay hills, the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office said Tuesday.

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Firefighters battling blaze in East Bay hills; 20 acres have burned Alfredo Bautista, 24, of Concord, was arrested after an incident Aug. 2 where he reportedly brandished a rifle at motorists. Bautista was found with a cigarette lighter in his pocket when arrested and has admitted to starting the Grizzly Peak fire and eight others in the area, according to UC Berkeley police in court documents filed Monday.

Carrying a rifle, Bautista is accused of approaching a car on Grizzly Peak Boulevard, west of Fish Ranch Road, about 8 a.m. on Aug. 2. When the victims ran off, fearing for their safety, Bautista allegedly followed them, ramming his car into theirs until their car hit a parked car, according to a probable cause statement.

The victims told police that he continued to point the rifle at them until eventually running off, police said.

Bautista then made his way toward the UC Berkeley campus, and around 2 p.m. that day, UC Berkeley police detained him on suspicion of a car theft in progress near two buildings of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. It was then that the UC Berkeley officer noticed he matched the description of the suspect from the earlier road-rage incident that Oakland police were investigating.

He also matched the description of a man who jumped the fence of a UC Berkeley Field Station earlier that day, police said.

Bautista appeared in the Rene C. Davidson courthouse in Oakland on Tuesday afternoon. He looked solemn, wearing a dark-colored jail suit, when he spoke with his attorney in a booth, behind glass. At least five of his family members appeared at his arraignment, where he pleaded not guilty. He is expected to appear in court again later this month.

Bautista is charged with four felonies: attempted second-degree robbery, assault with force, arson causing great bodily injury and unlawful driving or taking of a vehicle, according to the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office.

The 20-acre Grizzly Peak fire began Aug. 2 around 1 p.m., but as hot spots flared up wasn’t declared 100 percent contained until Saturday. The fire is said to have started off Grizzly Peak Boulevard, on university property near outpost sign 14. Investigators announced they suspected arson Aug. 3.

A firefighting crew member fell down a 50-foot embankment and suffered injuries during the blaze.