Arson Cited in Nearly Half of Acres Burned in CA Wildfires

Sep. 25—Nearly half of the acres burned in wildfires so far this year in California involve suspected cases of arson. That's roughly 475,000 acres out of 995,974 total acres burned, which is about four times more than the last seven years combined.

The largest is the Park Fire, a nearly 430,000-acre wildfire that started July 2 in Chico and burned all the way to Lassen National Park, nearly 100 miles to the north, destroying 709 buildings in Butte and Tehama counties. Prosecutors have accused a Chico man of letting his burning car crash off a cliff in a city park.

Cal Fire officials said the number of arson fires this year isn't unusual, and arson cases represent between 10% and 15% of fires in any given year — and this year's numbers fit that pattern, though the acreage is greater.

"These are hundreds of fires each year that do not need to happen," said Gianni Muschetto, staff chief in Cal Fire's law enforcement division.

Authorities had arrested 91 people suspected of arson this year by the end of August, the most recent data available. Last year, Cal Fire reported 111 arrests and 359 cases of arson that collectively burned 2,587 acres. There were 162 arrests in 2022, 149 in 2021 and 120 in 2020.

In another arson case, firefighters in San Bernardino County were still working to contain the 40,000-acre Line Fire, which destroyed four buildings and forced thousands of people to evacuate communities in the surrounding mountains. Prosecutors have accused a 34-year-old man from Riverside County of intentionally starting the fire in a neighborhood in Highland.

The 3,789-acre Thompson Fire, which ignited July 2 just outside Oroville, is also a case of suspected arson. Investigators suspect a 26-year-old man of tossing a firework out a car window as he drove on a rural road near the Oroville dam. He faces up to 21 years in prison if convicted of all charges.

Muschetto said that arson is an incredibly serious crime because there is no way to predict the consequences. He said Cal Fire receives reports of suspected arson every day.

"Once they light that fire, they don't know how big it will get, who it's going to hurt or whose house will burn down," Muschetto said. "It's a dangerous crime."

Lightning is the only natural cause of wildfires (along with vanishingly rare volcanic eruptions), but these are are most common in wilderness areas. All other fires are caused by people — either their actions or infrastructure.

Most cases involve accidents and don't meet the level of arson, Muschetto said. To charge a person with arson, investigators must find evidence that the person acted recklessly or maliciously. Many fires are started by incidents such as car or machinery backfiring.

The most recent arson case is unfolding in Sonoma County, where prosecutors this week charged a Cal Fire engineer with igniting five separate blazes since August. Luckily, the fires were extinguished while still small.

Cal Fire engineer Robert Hernandez of Healdsburg was charged Tuesday with five counts of felony arson. Hernandez started his career as an inmate firefighter while serving out a sentence for a vehicular manslaughter conviction before joining Cal Fire, court records show.

Muschetto said he couldn't yet reveal details about their investigation into Hernandez, such as how Hernandez came under suspicion or whether he's under investigation for lighting additional fires.

His arrest came just two weeks after another September arrest in Sonoma County involving a man accused of setting a series of small grass fires, including a quarter-acre fire near an elementary school.

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