Convicted Killer Charged With Arson After Spokane Fires Destroy 860 Buildings, Displace 65,000

A single man with a lighter and a box of waterproof matches is now accused of touching off the most destructive wildfire in Spokane's history.

Aaron Farinacci, 37, made his first court appearance Tuesday, August 5, appearing virtually from jail on a charge of first-degree arson, according to NPR member stations KAZU, WEKU and WAMC. He's accused of "knowingly and maliciously" starting the Old Trails Fire, the worst of three blazes that have torn through Spokane, a city of 230,000 in eastern Washington. His bail is set at $1 million.

The scale of the damage is staggering. The BBC reported from a devastated Spokane neighborhood that wildfires have burned down at least 860 buildings, including hundreds of homes, with thousands still under mandatory evacuation orders as of this week. NPR's member stations put the broader toll at roughly 700 buildings destroyed, 10,000 acres burned, and 65,000 people displaced since the fires broke out last weekend.

How they caught him

Spokane County Sheriff John Nowels said a citizen tip led investigators to Farinacci early in the investigation. A witness told police they saw "a bald white male wearing a backpack and a green shirt" near a tree line Saturday afternoon, the same time and place the fire ignited, according to court documents cited by NPR's member stations. The witness said the man seemed "nervous."

Farinacci was initially questioned and released. Major crimes detectives arrested him again as more evidence came in, Nowels said at a Monday night press conference.

Investigators say Farinacci was carrying a pack of cigarettes, a butane lighter, and a used box of "rain ready, heavy duty waterproof matches" in a fanny pack when he was picked up. Farinacci denies starting the fire. He told officers he used the matches to light a cigarette, according to the court documents.

A man can legally carry matches and a lighter, and lighting a cigarette isn't a crime. Prosecutors will have to connect the physical evidence and witness account to an actual ignition, not just proximity. The case is now in the hands of a judge, not a sheriff's press conference, and Farinacci's next court date is Thursday.

A record that raises the stakes

Farinacci isn't a stranger to violent crime. About 14 years ago, he pleaded guilty to manslaughter in Arizona after shooting and killing his father during a heated argument, when he was 21, according to court records reviewed by NPR and reporting from the Associated Press.

He is a convicted felon who already took a life once, now facing charges for allegedly setting a fire that displaced 65,000 people and gutted whole neighborhoods.

No deaths, but plenty of chaos

The good news, if there is any: no deaths or injuries have been reported. Fourteen people who were unaccounted for earlier in the week have since been located, the Spokane County Sheriff's Office confirmed Tuesday, as first reported by Northwest Public Broadcasting.

The fires have forced evacuations of businesses, the regional VA hospital campus, and other health care facilities. Displaced residents are sheltering at the Spokane Convention Center, run as a Red Cross shelter.

Charlie Patrick, 54 and disabled, evacuated Saturday with nothing and is staying with her son at the shelter. She doesn't know if her apartment survived. "I hope it is still there," she told NPR's member stations, choking up.

High winds, high heat, and dry conditions fueled the fires' rapid spread over the past week, authorities said. The cause of the other two fires burning in and around Spokane remains under investigation.

Spokane now faces a rebuilding effort measured in the hundreds of millions of dollars, on top of a criminal case that will test whether a fanny pack full of matches is enough to prove arson beyond a reasonable doubt. Thursday's hearing is the next checkpoint. Whether Washington prosecutors seek additional charges tied to the scope of destruction, and whether the other two Spokane-area fires get linked to a cause, remain open questions.