A Man With a Prior Manslaughter Conviction Was Arrested for Starting the Spokane Fire That Destroyed More Than 700 Buildings

Spokane County deputies arrested a 37-year-old man Monday on suspicion of deliberately starting the largest of the three wildfires that have gutted neighborhoods around Spokane, Washington, since Saturday.

Aaron Farinacci, a Spokane resident with a prior manslaughter conviction, was booked on suspicion of first-degree arson in connection with the Old Trails Fire and held on $1 million bond, the Spokane County Sheriff's Office said. Investigators moved on him after a witness reported seeing him kneeling in the grass at the spot where the fire started.

"We believe it was matches or a lighter," Sheriff John Nowels told reporters late Monday. "When he was detained ... he was found to be in possession of some waterproof matches and a butane lighter." Nowels said Farinacci has been arrested only in connection with the Old Trails Fire, not the other two blazes.

The damage is on a scale the region has not seen. More than 700 buildings have been destroyed and another 400 have not yet been assessed, officials said Monday. Roughly 67,000 people are under evacuation orders across the three fires. "It's a nightmare situation," Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson said. "This is likely the worst natural disaster in Spokane history."

No deaths had been confirmed as of Monday. The sheriff said authorities were still trying to reach 14 people but stopped short of calling them missing. "These are people who may have called for help or for help evacuating, and many of them likely did get evacuated," he said, noting that cell coverage in the burn area is poor and phone batteries die. For residents returning to nothing, the loss is total. "All of our memories are gone," said Anna Andreachi, whose home burned. "My dad just died, and all of his stuff was still in there, too."

Some homes survived on improvised defense. Joe Cvancara and his family dug a fire line and saved their house, while his neighbor's home and at least eight others nearby burned. "Almost survivor's guilt, in a way," he said. "So we're going to open our home to our neighbors. I know it's going to take a long time to rebuild."

The fires ignited Saturday into a near-perfect set of conditions: extreme drought, bone-dry brush, high heat and hard wind. Firefighters went house to house until they were overwhelmed. The Old Trails and Fairview fires are still burning; crews spent Sunday and Monday concentrating on the Autumn Lane Fire while the wind eased.

That window is closing. Daniel Ramey, a spokesperson for California Interagency Incident Management Team 7, which is assisting, told CBS News that temperatures are forecast to climb back into the 90s from Wednesday into Friday. "It's really time for us to put in the work," he said. Ramey noted the fires are not large by Western standards — the problem is where they burned, in the wildland-urban interface where houses sit against open grass and timber. "We didn't have rain for the whole month of July in this area, so everything was extremely dry," he said.

The Pacific Northwest is having its worst fire season in three decades. At least 16 major fires are burning in Washington state. A Utah fire has consumed nearly 70,000 acres after doubling in size Monday, and the Big Rock Fire in southeastern Idaho has burned more than 2,500 acres and forced evacuations. Ramey warned that firefighting resources are already stretched thin — and California has barely started.