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Convicted Killer Arrested for Arson Over Horror Wildfire

The man suspected of sparking the devastating blaze has a prior conviction for manslaughter.

A convicted killer has been arrested on suspicion of deliberately igniting the largest of three catastrophic wildfires in Spokane County, Washington. Aaron Farinacci, 37, was booked into the county jail Monday on a first-degree arson charge over the Old Trails Fire. That blaze and two others have torched upward of 8,000 acres and wrecked roughly 700 buildings since Saturday. Up to 65,000 residents have fled. None of the fires are contained. Sheriff’s detectives and state fire investigators built the case on residents’ tips. A witness reported a man crouching in grass near where the fire started, Sheriff John Nowels told a news conference. Deputies stopped Farinacci half a mile away that day. He was carrying waterproof matches, plus a butane lighter. He was “detained, questioned and ultimately released,” Nowels said. Farinacci pleaded guilty to manslaughter in Arizona in 2012 after fatally shooting his father. The sheriff said nothing ties him to the Autumn Lane and Fairview fires.