An 18-year-old resident of Kent, Washington, was arrested on felony charges including first-degree manslaughter and first-degree arson in connection with the deadly Chelan Hills Fire that swept through Central Washington on the Fourth of July.
Multiple high-definition clips documented fireworks fired directly toward a passing passenger vehicle before additional explosive shells were launched into dense cheatgrass and sagebrush bordering the highway shoulder.
Search and rescue personnel discovered Lister's body inside the burned vehicle hours later, after emergency crews pushed back the main flame front.
Five Additional Suspects and Complicity Charges While Yakimov was arrested as the primary shooter who launched the pyrotechnic devices, law enforcement authorities confirmed that additional criminal prosecutions connected to the truck's occupants are proceeding rapidly.
In several orchard pockets, intense radiant heat melted above-ground drip irrigation lines and damaged electrical pumping stations, creating secondary crop losses that compounded direct structural damage.
Douglas County detectives arrested 18-year-old Michael Yakimov of Kent on first-degree manslaughter and arson charges after fireworks allegedly ignited the 10,000-acre Chelan Hills Fire, killing one resident.