A 37-year-old Spokane man with a prior manslaughter conviction was arrested Monday and charged with first-degree arson in connection with the Old Trails Fire, the blaze that investigators say became the anchor of the most destructive urban wildfire event in Washington history.
The Old Trails Fire alone destroyed 640 structures in its first 24 hours, according to incident commanders, before growing further as it merged into what fire officials are now tracking jointly as the Spokane Complex: Old Trails, Fairview and Autumn Lane combined into a single, formally managed incident.
A second witness reported seeing the same individual again a short time later, according to details in the KOMO account of the arrest.
Court records tied to that earlier case show Farinacci was originally charged with first-degree murder in the 2010 killing of his father in Maricopa County, Arizona.
The effort includes rotor and fixed-wing aircraft, bulldozers, engines and hand crews working fire lines across all three blazes, which remained at zero percent containment as of Monday.
Aaron Farinacci, 37, faces a first-degree arson charge and $1 million bond in the Old Trails Fire, as the Spokane Complex toll grows to as many as 1,100 homes lost and 65,000 evacuated.