LOS ANGELES - A 38-YEAR-OLD arsonist faces the death penalty after being sentenced to death on Friday for starting a blaze in the Los Angeles area in 2006 that killed five firefighters.

A judge in Riverside California, close to the city of Los Angeles, followed a jury's recommendation to impose the death penalty on Raymond Lee Oyler, a prosecution spokesman told AFP.

The jury had earlier unanimously recommended Oyler receive the death sentence, after finding him guilty of first degree murder and arson.

He was suspected of lighting at least 26 fires in the Los Angeles region in 2006 before a blaze took the lives of five firefighters on Oct 26 that year.

The fire also destroyed 34 homes and 20 other buildings, consuming more than 16,000 hectares of land.

According to the prosecution, Oyler had wanted to hit out at the emergency services after they seized and destroyed his dog, a pitbull.

His car was spotted by security cameras shortly after leaving the seen of the fire. Matches discovered at the scene where the same as those found at his workplace. -- AFP