Aug. 4 (UPI) — Authorities in Washington said late Monday that officers have arrested a 37-year-old man accused of starting one of three wildfires burning in Spokane County that have forced tens of thousands of people to evacuate and destroyed hundreds of structures.
The suspect, Aaron Farinacci, was detained Monday afternoon in Spokane County. He has been charged with one count of first-degree arson. He is being held on $1 million bond.
The Old Trails Fire erupted Saturday at around midnight PDT.
Spokane County Sheriff John Nowels told reporters during a press conference that authorities began investigating the fire when it ignited. He credited local citizens with helping investigators arrest Farinacci.
He said a “very good citizen” early Saturday was driving into Old Trails Road are to pick up a friend when he noticed a man standing by the roadside “looking into the trees.” On their way back, the citizen again saw the man who was now “bending down near some grass” and “looked very nervous,” the sheriff said.
A short time later, the citizen, now at home, saw smoke coming from the area where they had seen the man. The citizen returned to the scene and contacted the police, giving them a detailed physical description of the man they had seen.
“That description was broadcast to units in the area,” Nowels said, resulting in Farinacci being contacted by police about 1 1/2 miles from where the fire was started. Farinacci was detained, questioned and released after the witness identified him as much was still unknown at that early stage.
But following further investigation, police identified Farinacci as a suspect, developed probable cause “and determined that the origin of the fire was indeed exactly where the witnesses had seen Mr. Farinacci kneeling in the grass earlier that day,” he said.
A judge signed arrest and search warrants for Farinacci at 3 p.m. Monday and he was detained by 5 p.m., Nowels added.
“This was fantastic and very quick work by everybody involved,” he said.
“As it happens in so many critical cases, it was citizens who were paying attention to their surroundings, being aware and willing to step up and say something that led to the relatively quick apprehension of Mr. Farinacci.”
Farinacci has a felony conviction for manslaughter and was previously arrested in the same case on a charge of premeditated murder in Arizona, according to authorities.
Authorities will be looking at further charges in the Old Trials Fire case as the investigation continues, according to Nowels.
He said authorities allege that Farinacci started the fire with either waterproof matches or a butane lighter, both of which were in his possession of when arrested.
A motive is being investigated, according to Nowels, who said Farinacci told police when he was detained “about [that] we didn’t know the whole story, or something to that effect.”
The Old Trails Fire, Fairview Fire and Autumn Lane Fire have ripped through Spokane County, where roughly 65,000 people were forced to evacuate and more than 700 structures were destroyed.
According to a Monday update from the county, the three fires have burned about 8,026 acres of land and were 0% contained.
