(The Center Square) – A suspect is in custody on suspicion of arson in the start of the Old Trails Fire in Spokane, after authorities had previously detained him near where the fire started before releasing him.
At a Monday night press conference, Spokane County Sheriff John Nowels said his detectives arrested 37-year-old Aaron Farinacci at his residence at 5 p.m., without incident, on a single charge of arson in the first degree.
Previously convicted of manslaughter in Arizona, he is being held on a $1 million bond.
Former Gov. Jay Inslee quickly took to social media over the weekend to blame the fire on climate change, drawing criticism as hundreds of families lost their homes.
While Farinacci was convicted of manslaughter in Arizona, authorities initially charged him with the premeditated murder of his father.
Nowels said law enforcement detained Farinacci about a mile and a half from the start of the fire after a citizen reported smoke and seeing a nervous male leaning down near the grass.
The witness identified Farinacci at the scene, but authorities released him after questioning as they focused on evacuations.
“A lot of the details that have come to light during the investigation were not known to the deputies who detained Mr. Farinacci that day,” Nowels said. “… I will say, as part of our investigation, Mr. Farinacci has been contacted regarding arson-related behavior, although no previous arrests or convictions.”
He said Farinacci has no “documented criminal history of intentional fire setting,” but law enforcement is looking into his past behaviors as part of the investigation.
Nowels said the authorities took him into custody about four miles from the start of the fire and found no firearms or narcotics on the suspect.
The Old Trails Fire started on Aug. 1 and is one of three fires that devastated the city of Spokane and Spokane County over the weekend. It continues to burn with the Autumn Lane and Fireview Fires, all at 0% containment as of Tuesday morning, after destroying an estimated 700 structures since Saturday.
According to a press release, the investigation is still ongoing, along with those to determine the cause of the other two fires.
At a press conference with Gov. Bob Ferguson on Monday morning, before the suspect was arrested, Mayor Lisa Brown said it could be weeks before some people can return home, if at all. State officials warned that some folks may be able to rebuild in Spokane, or recover from the devastation.
Gent Welsh, the adjutant general of the Washington National Guard, described the scene to reporters.
“I’ve been to a lot of places around the world, not so good places around the world, and I can tell you, that’s a war zone,” Welsh told the press on Monday morning. “Some of these folks may not recover.”
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has approved funding to reimburse up to 75% of eligible firefighting costs, but that doesn’t cover the hundreds of homes that burned down. A Tuesday morning estimate put the fight for all three fires at $2.9 million, down from a $3.4 million estimate on Monday.
State and federal officials are calling on FEMA to expedite Ferguson’s requests for direct assistance.
Nearly 1,000 personnel continue to fight the three fires in Spokane that forced 67,000 people to evacuate, though not everyone left, according to estimates from local officials on Monday morning.
“So far, roughly 700 structures have been destroyed in Spokane, including entire neighborhoods, while many remain threatened. As the fires continue to burn, this number is expected to climb,” according to a letter that the Washington state congressional delegation sent Monday to President Donald Trump.
Later Tuesday morning, Ferguson announced that the federal government approved an emergency declaration for wildfires across Eastern Washington, covering Spokane County and five other counties, alongside three Tribal nations including the Spokane Tribe of Indians.
The declaration mobilizes federal resources through FEMA to support local governments with evacuation costs, emergency shelters, food, water, and search-and-rescue operations.
“I appreciate the federal government moving quickly and granting our request for this emergency declaration,” Ferguson said in the press release. “We are laser-focused on getting assistance to those Washingtonians who have lost so much.”
Over the weekend, the governor banned most outdoor burning until the end of September “due to our drought conditions, unusually high temperatures and high winds all exacerbating our record-setting wildfires,” the release said.
