Spokane arson suspect told prosecutors he started 25 other fires, documents say

Catalina Gaitán, The Seattle Times on Aug 6, 2026

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SEATTLE — A man suspected of starting one of three catastrophic Spokane-area wildfires on Saturday is facing additional arson charges after allegedly admitting to starting 25 other fires around Riverside State Park since last July, according to a memorandum prosecutors filed Wednesday in Spokane County Superior Court.

By Wednesday, detectives had corroborated evidence indicating the man started at least four of the 25 fires he had described, prosecutors said in the memorandum.

The 37-year-old was arrested Monday at his West Spokane apartment, two days after prosecutors allege he sparked the Old Trails fire. He was booked into the Spokane County Jail on suspicion of first-degree arson, where he is being held on $1 million bond. The man is scheduled to be arraigned 3 p.m. Thursday in Spokane County Superior Court.

The Seattle Times typically does not name suspects until they are charged. A public defender representing the man did not respond Wednesday to an inquiry.

Investigators identified the man as a suspect after a resident living near the Old Trails wildfire’s origin point reported seeing him in the area at about noon Saturday acting “nervous.” The man was stopped twice later that day by sheriff’s deputies and a state fire investigator but was released both times, court records show.

Sometime after his arrest, the man allegedly told a Spokane County sheriff’s detective that he spent about two weeks planning the fire he started Saturday — a day he chose because it was especially windy, hot and dry, according to the affidavit.

He also said he picked the grassy, tree-lined area near West Euclid and Old Trails roads because he knew the fire “was gonna get bad,” but claimed he didn’t intend for it to grow as large as it did, according to the affidavit.

The detective reported the man told him he “feels fire is powerful (and) beautiful,” and that arson “is an easy crime to get away (with).” The man allegedly said he always carries marijuana or cigarettes to use as an “arson alibi” in case he is caught with a lighter or matches near one of his fires, according to the affidavit.

The four other fires the detectives found evidence the man had allegedly started included a July 6, 2025, blaze at Riverside State Park that burned more than 1,200 acres and prompted evacuation orders, according to the prosecutors’ memo and Spokane County Emergency Management.

The man allegedly confessed to setting another fire two days later in West Spokane that forced residents of nearby homes and apartment complexes — including his own — to evacuate immediately, according to the memo and affidavit.

Prosecutors on Wednesday requested to charge the man with four more counts of first-degree arson and wrote that their investigation into the other fires is ongoing. They may seek additional charges once the “full extent of (his) criminal acts become known,” prosecutors wrote in their memo.

According to Wednesday’s affidavit, the man told a detective that he moved into his West Spokane apartment in October 2022, two years after he was released from federal prison in Arizona.

The man pleaded guilty to manslaughter in 2012, two years after he fatally shot his father inside their Mesa, Arizona, home during an argument about doing the dishes. He was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment, with credit for time already served in jail, according to Maricopa County Superior Court records.

The man allegedly told the Spokane County sheriff’s detective this week that he had started having trouble “dealing with life issues” after his son was born last May, according to the affidavit.

The three Spokane-area fires combined, including the Old Trails fire, have burned more than 15 square miles and damaged or destroyed nearly 850 structures by Thursday morning. More than 60,000 people had to evacuate.

Level 3 “Go now” evacuation orders are still in effect in parts of Spokane County, and emergency shelters for evacuees are open at the Spokane Convention Center and the Spokane County Fairgrounds, as well as Jenkins High School in south Stevens County.

During a Wednesday news conference, Spokane County Sheriff John Nowels said there is “not a high likelihood” anyone has been killed in the fires, which all remained mostly uncontained Thursday, according to The Spokesman-Review.

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