Arson suspect in court as wildfires rage around Spokane, Washington

SPOKANE, Washington – A 37-year-old man appeared in court on Aug 4 in Spokane, Washington after being charged with starting one of three fires that have destroyed over 700 houses and other buildings, and forced 64,000 people to evacuate the city hit hardest by wildfires sweeping the drought-stricken Pacific North-west United States.

The suspect, Spokane resident Aaron Farinacci, previously imprisoned for killing his father, made his initial appearance in county court after being jailed on a US$1 million (S$1.3 million) bond on a count of first-degree arson, according to court records.

Farinacci is accused of starting the Old Trails Fire, one of three that erupted on Aug 1 to the north and west of Spokane, by using matches or a lighter to ignite a roadside patch of grass, Spokane County Sheriff John Nowels told reporters in the evening of Aug 3.

The origins of the two other fires remained under investigation, he said.

The three blazes together are ranked as the top firefighting priority in the US as a whole. Dozens of major fires have scorched Washington and Oregon for weeks, fouling the air with smoke and soot.

Driven by gusting winds and tinder-dry conditions, the Spokane-area fires have blackened more than 4,000ha on the northern fringe of the state’s second city, home to about 230,000 residents.

Online drone footage showed the Old Trails Fire swept out of a state park into wooded, suburban neighborhoods, turning homes to ash, melting cars and leaving only blackened trees standing.

Authorities pleaded with people not to fly drones after dozens of such illegal flights grounded all firefighting aircraft on Aug 3.

“We’re still in a firefight here,” said Tom Stokesberry, spokesman for firefighting teams in the area.

“This is just a dynamic situation with everything we’re facing, three separate fires in the urban interface.”

Cooler temperatures and lighter winds were expected to help firefighters on Aug 4, Stokesberry said, adding that the Old Trails and Fairview fires remained stable in size while the Autumn Lane fire continued to grow.

Temperatures were set to rise into the 32 deg C starting midweek, making it harder to control the blazes which are not contained at all, state officials said in a report.

Heat and droughts spread around the globe

Scientists say the prolonged heat and droughts driving the growth in wildfires in North America, Europe and elsewhere in recent years are largely a function of manmade global warming, mostly caused by the use of fossil fuels.

No fatalities had been reported from the Spokane fires, Stokesberry said.

Nowels said the arson suspect was first detained on Aug 1 after a witness reported seeing a nervous-looking man bending down near some grass at the spot where arson investigators later determined the Old Trails Fire began.

Farinacci was questioned and released that day, but taken into custody in the afternoon on Aug 3, once investigators had obtained further evidence, Nowels said.

In 2010, Farinacci shot dead his father in Mesa, Arizona, after an argument over washing dishes, police said. He subsequently shot himself but survived.

Farinacci pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment. He was released from custody in 2020, according to court records.

It was not immediately known whether Farinacci had obtained legal representation on the fire charge.

Spokane residents salvage what they can

Kami Fehlig, 58, was one of hundreds of area residents who fled before wind-driven flames engulfed their homes over the weekend.

Picking through charred ruins of her house, Fehlig paused on Aug 3 to recount how she and her husband watched in disbelief as the Old Trails Fire jumped the narrow Spokane River and swept toward their parkside neighborhood on Aug 1.

The couple and their two adult daughters hurriedly packed themselves into their cars with the family dog and a few belongings – a wedding album, pet supplies, baby books.

Moments later, the power went out, and the family sped away.

“It was, ‘Go now, go now’,” Fehlig said.

Other residents tried to salvage what they could from destroyed homes.

Jeff Clauson worked with his brothers Brian and Bodey to pry open a safe in what was the basement of his home.

The three, wearing white protective suits and face masks, opened the safe to find multiple rifles and shotguns had been destroyed by the heat, according to a Reuters photographer.

Jeff Clauson’s firearms were burned by the Old Trails Fire. PHOTO: REUTERS

Firefighting force to double

Stokesberry said an additional 1,100 firefighters were en route to Spokane to double the force seeking to fully suppress the fires.

They are among some 27,400 personnel fighting wildfires nationwide, mainly in Oregon, Washington and Idaho, according to the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise.

The centre has tallied 45,050 wildfires nationwide year to date, the highest such number in at least a decade, with over 2.1 million ha consumed, the greatest January-August acreage burned since 2022. REUTERS