Donnie Mack Sellers, 52, of Victor was charged with five counts of arson, plus driving under the influence, Sheriff Chris Hoffman said.
Sellers was apprehended shortly after deputies and volunteer fire departments from Victor and Florence responded to the fires Sunday morning. Hoffman said alert citizens obtained the license number of a suspicious vehicle in the area and deputies then located Sellers driving it around the Bear Creek area west of Victor.
Both had been broken into, and both interiors had been set on fire.
Thirty-seven minutes later, the Florence Volunteer Fire Department was called out to the Bass Creek trailhead, where two Dodge pickups and one Nissan Pathfinder had been broken into and set on fire in the same manner.
Hoffman said all five vehicles and their contents are a total loss, and the damage is estimated to exceed $100,000. A horse trailer at Bass Creek also sustained substantial fire damage.
Law enforcement officers with the U.S. Forest Service helped the sheriff's office with the investigation, according to Hoffman, and Montana Highway Patrol officers checked other trailheads in the Bitterroot while aiding in the search for the suspect.
Anyone convicted of arson can be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison and fined $50,000.
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