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No bail for Arizona fire suspect

Leonard Gregg arrives at a Flagstaff courthouse Wednesday for a detention hearing.

FLAGSTAFF, Arizona (CNN) -- Fearing for the safety of the defendant and the community, a federal magistrate Wednesday ordered a part-time firefighter charged with starting part of a huge, devastating Arizona wildfire held without bail.

Magistrate Stephen Verkamp said that because of the vast amount of property damage from the fire and the resulting animosities, he believed there was potential for serious harm to Leonard Gregg or that Gregg could start another fire. He will be held in a Flagstaff jail while his case is tried. No trial date has been set.

In a brief court hearing Wednesday morning, Gregg, 29, pleaded not guilty to setting the fire, the largest in Arizona's history. His court-appointed attorney, Deborah Euler-Ajaya, made the plea on Gregg's behalf.

Gregg is a contract firefighter accused of starting the Rodeo fire on June 18 so he could be hired to help put it out.

He was indicted Tuesday on two federal counts of setting fires. Gregg has also been charged with setting a second fire near the Rodeo blaze.

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If convicted, Gregg could face a maximum of five years in prison, a $250,000 fine or both for each count, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Arizona.

The Rodeo fire merged with the Chediski fire, which started two days later. The combined blaze has charred more than 468,000 acres in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest and Fort Apache reservation.

It has cost more than $2 million a day to fight the Rodeo-Chediski fire -- the largest in the state's history. The total estimated cost is more than $32 million.

So far, firefighters have contained 80 percent of the blaze. They hope to fully contain the fire by this weekend.

Lightning strikes could set back firefighting efforts Wednesday. Four new fires started by lightning Tuesday were quickly put out, however more thunderstorms are in the forecast Wednesday.

Because of the progress, fire officials Wednesday are allowing residents to return to their homes in Heber, Overgaard, and Forest Lake, fire information officer Ed Brown said. They had been the last three towns affected by the fire that were still under evacuation orders.

The officials also decided Tuesday to send home about 500 fire personnel.

Federal prosecutors said the cause of the Chediski fire was still under investigation, but law enforcement officials said almost from the start that a stranded hiker started the fire to signal a television station helicopter flying overhead.

The arrest of Gregg, an Apache, has sparked tensions in the local community because authorities have not arrested the stranded hiker who allegedly started the Chediski half of the monster blaze.

Apache tribal chairman Dallas Massey urged residents to remain calm.

"We went through a lot in the past few weeks, and I believe we can work together, start the healing process as the fires and the smoke start to disappear," Massey said. "I believe we share this beautiful White Mountain together and we've gone through quite a bit and we've grown together, we depend on each other, and that's the way we are and the way we have to be."

But Massey did note that Gregg was not the only accused firestarter.

"So I just want to remind the public not just one man did it. There was another person involved in the fire also."

At its height, the Rodeo-Chediski blaze destroyed 400 homes and other buildings and forced 30,000 people to flee their homes. Many have returned -- some to find their homes destroyed. But firefighters have managed to save thousands of residences.

CNN Correspondent David Mattingly contributed to this report