PALM BAY, Fla. (AP) – A man accused of lobbing a Molotov cocktail into woods that are among the thousands of acres that have burned along Florida’s Atlantic coast conceded Thursday that he may have accidentally sparked a fire.

But Brian Crowder, 31, said he tossed a cigarette, not a bottle full of flammable liquid, out of his car.

“I believe that I accidentally may have – may have – started by tossing a cigarette out the door,” Crowder told a horde of reporters as he was being led in shackles by police early Thursday.

Authorities arrested and questioned Crowder on Wednesday and said he was expected to be charged with setting a small fire in the area of the larger blazes. The small fire was immediately extinguished.

Palm Bay Police Chief Bill Berger said police were recommending he be charged with one felony count of setting fire to public lands.

Berger said Crowder remained “a prime suspect” in the larger fires that burned nearly 10,000 acres in and around neighboring Palm Bay and Malabar.

Berger said Crowder has denied being involved with the larger fires, which have cost millions in damage.

A resident alerted police after allegedly seeing Crowder throw an object from his car that sparked a small fire in the woods, Palm Bay Detective Ernie Diebel said. The object was a glass bottle containing an accelerant, Berger said.

Crowder was stopped a short time later and apprehended after fleeing from police. During the chase, Berger said Crowder set a few small fires with a long-stemmed lighter trying to throw police off, but those too were insignificant. He was found hiding under a pile of leaves in the woods.

Berger said Crowder’s mother told police he had a juvenile fascination with fire.

Crowder said Thursday that he ran because he had violated probation and was driving without a license. Records show he has drug, burglary and automobile theft convictions dating from 1996. He was charged Wednesday with six probation violations and was due in court Thursday afternoon.

Firefighters made major gains Wednesday against the flames, enough that schools that had been closed for two days reopened Thursday, electricity was being restored and many residents had returned to the area where about 30 homes were destroyed and 140 structures damaged. The fires were more than halfway contained Thursday.

About 890 homes and businesses were still without power in surrounding Brevard County on Thursday morning, after officials shut off electricity as a precaution. All power was expected to be restored by the end of the day, Florida Power & Light said.

“People are starting to feel a little bit more comfortable again,” Palm Bay Councilman Ed Geier said. “There’s no big black clouds in the sky. It’s beautiful blue up there.”

Firefighters credited additional support and equipment for help containing the fires, which have burned about 15 square miles – 9,600 acres – in Palm Bay and neighboring Malabar.

“We got quite a bit of work done,” Todd Schroeder, spokesman for the state’s Division of Forestry, said Thursday. “There’s been no more damage to homes or property.”

Elsewhere, scattered fires were still burning around the state Wednesday. A total of almost 26,000 acres – 40 square miles – were ablaze as of Thursday morning, according to an emergency management report.

In California, crews were trying to make more progress against a stubborn 340-acre wildfire. The blaze on Mount Baldy, 45 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles, was being fed by winds reaching 40 mph. The fire was 25 percent contained and had moved sluggishly away from populated areas since it began Tuesday.

AP-ES-05-15-08 1358EDT