Man charged with setting Spokane's largest wildfire was questioned about
2 other blazes last year
[August 05, 2026]
By MANUEL VALDES, ED WHITE, MARTHA BELLISLE and GENE
JOHNSON
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — A man charged with intentionally setting a
wildfire that’s destroyed hundreds of buildings in and around Washington
state's second-largest city was questioned by law enforcement during two
fire investigations last year, though he wasn't charged in either, court
documents show.
Aaron F. Farinacci, of Spokane, was arrested Monday and booked on
suspicion of first-degree arson in connection with the Old Trails Fire,
the biggest of three blazes that have destroyed at least 700 buildings
and forced tens of thousands of people from their homes. According to
court records, he denied setting the fire. His bond was set at $1
million.
The other two fires burning around Spokane were also started by humans,
though not necessarily intentionally, investigators said Tuesday. The
exact cause remains under investigation.
No deaths have been reported and cooler, calmer weather aided
firefighters again Tuesday. Only one of the three fires — the Autumn
Lane fire — grew. But hotter, drier and windier conditions are expected
later in the week.
Farinacci, 37, served about a decade in prison after killing his father
in Arizona in 2010. Last year, authorities questioned him in two
fire-related cases in Spokane, according to a probable cause statement
filed in Spokane County Superior Court.
One involved several “bus-sized” fires in an area near Farinacci's
apartment in July 2025, police records in that case say. The other
involved a wildfire in a state park that prompted evacuation notices the
following month. In neither case was he arrested.
A tip leads to an arrest
On Saturday, Paul Child, 64, was driving with his grandson along some
railroad tracks in his rural neighborhood northwest of Spokane. He saw a
man standing and looking toward nearby trees. About 10 minutes later, as
they were returning home, the man was still there.
“He was bent over in the brush, acting nervous," Child told The
Associated Press on Tuesday. "You get the feeling this guy’s up to
something.”
“No longer than 10 minutes after I got home, my daughter says, ‘There’s
a fire,’” Child recalled. “My first words were, ‘That SOB started a
fire!’ It was the exact spot where he was standing.”
Child’s daughter called 911 and he drove back to the spot where he'd
seen the man, sheriff’s detective Michael Drapeau wrote in the probable
cause statement. He gave a police officer a description of the man he
had seen — bald, white, wearing a green shirt and carrying a backpack.
A responding sheriff’s deputy saw a man matching that description
walking more than 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) away and detained him. Another
deputy also responded, and Child showed up to identify the person in
custody — Farinacci — as the one he had seen in the area of the fire,
the document states.
Farinacci had a backpack and a fanny pack, in which he had a pack of
cigarettes, waterproof matches and a butane lighter, it says. He told
the deputies he didn’t start the fire and he denied having been in the
area where it started. He was wearing a green T-shirt that read, “who
needs luck I have charm,” the detective wrote.
The deputies were unaware of Farinacci’s prior fire-related contacts and
the cause of the Old Trails Fire hadn’t been determined yet, so they
released him to continue working on evacuation efforts, Drapeau wrote.
But the following day, a wildland fire investigator ruled out other
possible causes, including sparks from electric wires or passing trains,
and police arrested Farinacci on Monday.
“As it happens in so many critical cases, it was citizens who were
paying attention to their surroundings, being aware and willing to step
up and say something that led to the relatively quick apprehension of
Mr. Farinacci,” Sheriff John Nowels told reporters.
Child credited the heroic work of police and firefighters responding to
the disaster, and said he hopes people who lost homes “can get some kind
of peace of mind or a little bit of comfort” from the arrest.
Farinacci appeared in court Tuesday via video link from the jail and was
represented by Colin Charbonneau, director of the Spokane County public
defender’s office. A judge set his arraignment for Thursday.
In an effort to get comment from Farinacci’s family, The Associated
Press sent a message to a possible social media account for a brother.
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A "for sale" sign is still seen on the back of a van burned after a
wildfire hit the northern part of Spokane, Wash., Monday, Aug. 3,
2026. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Police contacted him about earlier fires
A detective investigating the Old Trails Fire ran a criminal history
check on Farinacci and found that he had been contacted by law
enforcement twice before during fire investigations.
Spokane police responded to reports of several fires on July 8, 2025,
near Farinacci’s apartment. The area near the Spokane River involved
several “bus-sized” fires and prompted a significant emergency response,
according to a police record.
The Washington State Patrol made contact with Farinacci the following
month while pursuing a suspect in a wildfire at Riverside State Park.
They found him on a park bench, “seemingly out of breath from possibly
running.” They took photos of him. He was wearing a green T-shirt just
like the one he was seen wearing on Saturday, the document says.
Convicted of manslaughter
Farinacci, then age 21, shot and killed his father in Mesa, Arizona,
during a 2010 argument about washing dishes, police said. Farinacci also
shot himself but survived.
He was charged with murder but pleaded guilty in 2012 to manslaughter
and aggravated assault, records show.
A judge in 2011 found that Farinacci was mentally fit to assist in his
own defense, though defense lawyer Jose Colon continued to raise
questions about his mental health and noted that he had been
hospitalized multiple times for psychiatric treatment, court records
show.
In a letter to the judge, Beth Farinacci, who had married Farinacci's
father, said second-degree murder, not manslaughter, would have been a
more appropriate way to resolve the case.
“Manslaughter is for when someone accidentally kills another person. It
is not for someone who intentionally points a loaded gun at their father
and shoots him in his face and back,” Beth Farinacci wrote.
Farinacci was released from probation in Arizona in early 2024. A
probation officer said Farinacci maintained a stable residence with his
girlfriend and her family in the previous year, but also noted he hadn’t
completed a mental health evaluation or domestic violence treatment.
Drone activity a serious concern
The fires were among dozens across the Western U.S. that have stretched
the ability of federal, state and local agencies to fight them. More
than 1,000 firefighters, many from outside of Washington state, were in
the Spokane area Tuesday, and that number was expected to rise.
On Monday afternoon, during the hottest part of the day, authorities had
to ground all of their firefighting aircraft for nearly two hours due to
repeated airspace incursions by privately operated drones, said Tom
Stokesberry, spokesperson for the critical incident team managing the
fire response.
Federal authorities on Tuesday granted a law enforcement task force the
authority to down, by means of electronic disruption, any drones that
cross into restricted airspace, he said.
In one neighborhood, blackened vehicles, a boat twisted by the heat and
melted plastic recycling bins remained. Across the street, lawns were
still green and houses were spared, as residents continued to run hoses
or sprinklers to water their properties.
Some residents who had to flee blazes returned to find only chimneys
left standing.
“There’s nothing to save,” Miriam Sim, 76, said as she and her husband,
Daniel Sim, surveyed the ruins of the home where they had lived since
2005.
___
Johnson and Bellisle reported from Seattle, and White reported from
Detroit. Associated Press reporters Jacques Billeaud in Phoenix; Kathy
McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire; and Hallie Golden in Seattle
contributed.
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