A 37-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of first-degree arson in connection with the Old Trails Fire, the Spokane County blaze that has burned 3,621 acres and destroyed hundreds of structures since Saturday. He is being held in the Spokane County Jail on $1 million bond.
Spokane County Sheriff John Nowels announced the arrest at a Monday night press conference. Investigators said a witness reported seeing a man in the trees near Airway Heights who appeared nervous, and saw smoke rising in the same area roughly ten minutes later, after observing the man bending down in the grass. Deputies brought in a man matching that description for questioning on the day the fire started, and said he was carrying waterproof matches and a butane lighter. Nowels said the man has a prior manslaughter conviction in Arizona.
No motive has been identified. The Old Trails Fire began near Airway Heights before running through Riverside State Park and into neighborhoods in north Spokane. Investigators do not believe the man is connected to the Autumn Lane or Fairview fires, the other two blazes in the county. All three remain at zero percent containment.
The arrest does not change the position on the ground. Roughly 65,000 people are still under evacuation orders, and officials have said it may be a week or longer before most can return.
The man has not been publicly identified and no charges have been filed, which means the account of what happened near Airway Heights rests entirely on what the sheriff’s office has said so far.
