LAKESIDE, Calif. -- A transient was jailed Friday on suspicion of maliciously setting two small brush fires in the East County this week.

Eloy Bazan, 49, was arrested Friday morning at the Lakeside restaurant where he works, Cal Fire Battalion Chief Nick Schuler said.

The blazes allegedly ignited by Bazan burned Wednesday and Thursday near the intersection of Los Coches Road and Interstate 8, Schuler said.

Crews were able to keep the fires from growing into major threats, and the flames caused no structural damage or injuries. Investigators determined that someone had intentionally set both blazes.

A witness reported seeing a flare hurtling over the freeway just prior to the start of the second fire, and authorities linked the remnants of the pyrotechnic signaling device to a flare gun that the suspect had in his custody at the time, according to Schuler.

Bazan, who recently has lived in a makeshift squatters' camp in the Lakeside area, was booked into county jail on two counts of felony wildland arson.