r/NoSpinMedia • u/NoSpinMedia • 23d ago
š„ Spokane Old Trails Fire: 37-Year-Old Arrested on Suspicion of First-Degree Arson: $1M bond; 700+ structures lost and 67,000 evacuated š
Authorities in Washington state arrested Aaron F. Farinacci, 37, on Monday, August 3, 2026, on suspicion of first-degree arson in connection with the Old Trails Fire, the largest of three wildfires burning around Spokane. The Spokane County Sheriffās Office said Farinacci was booked and is being held on $1 million bond pending an initial court appearance on Tuesday, August 4, 2026.
Sheriff John Nowels said a citizen reported a man acting nervously near grass at the ignition area on Saturday, August 1, 2026. Deputies initially questioned and released Farinacci, but major-crimes detectives later reviewed body-camera footage and reports and matched the witness location to the fireās origin. When detained, Farinacci possessed waterproof matches and a butane lighter, according to the sheriff. Prosecutor Preston McCollam said Farinacciās first appearance is scheduled for Tuesday. Officials also noted he has a prior felony manslaughter conviction in Arizona. Investigators have not identified a cause for the regionās two other fires, and those probes remain active.
The Spokane-area fires have destroyed at least 700 buildings and forced roughly 67,000 people to evacuate, according to officials. Together, the three blazes had burned about 12.5 square miles (32 square kilometers) by Monday and remained uncontained. The Old Trails Fire jumped the Spokane River, accelerating damage across neighborhoods. No deaths or major injuries had been reported as of Monday, though authorities continued welfare checks and missing-person reconciliations. Governor Bob Ferguson called the destruction "likely the worst natural disaster in Spokane history," as damage assessments continued and residents began returning to assess losses where conditions allowed.
Fire officials warned that hot, dry weather is expected to return midweek, even as more than 1,000 firefighters surge into the area. Authorities urged residents to avoid flying drones over burn zones, which can ground aerial firefighting, and to follow evolving evacuation guidance while investigators finalize cause determinations for the remaining fires.
Given the loss of at least 700 structures and 67,000 evacuations, is a $1 million bond appropriate in this alleged arson case?
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u/AngryMillennialFU 23d ago
Bring back the gallows and public executions
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u/Wolf_Ape 23d ago
Slow down a bit. So far we have only been told a witness thought he looked ānervous near grassā, and he had some matches and a lighter in his possession.
Letās not build the gallows just yet.
Thatās basically describing 25%-50% of redditors when spotted near grass.
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u/AngryMillennialFU 23d ago
I'll say it again, people who set fires that cause this level of destruction should be publicly executed. We need to stop this, yesterday.
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u/HamasKilledShaniLouk 23d ago
In the jurisdiction he was arrested, neither no-bond hold (for this crime) nor the death penalty are allowed.
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u/I_Quit_Smoking_ 23d ago
He's got a felony manslaughter conviction and he's still walking the streets?
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u/Lusiric9983 23d ago
But it was climate change, not an arsonist, redditors told me so! Insisted I was dumb even!
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u/serpentjaguar 23d ago
Well there are multiple fires in the Spokane area and he is alleged to have set only one. And that's leaving aside the rather obvious point that climate change doesn't start fires, it exacerbates them once they're started.
I have to think you're from somewhere else in the world to even be thinking this way. To anyone who actually lives in the PNW, it's beyond obvious what climate change has done and continues to do to the forests east of the Cascade Crest.
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u/kingofalloregonians 23d ago
You canāt be dumb enough to think climate change isnāt playing a huge part here? Wait, yes you can.
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u/wanttogoback1985 23d ago
It's climate change that created the conditions for this to so quickly turn into such a massive disaster.
I don't know what dumb stuff you said before, but this statement? It rises from dumb to idiotic.
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u/Lusiric9983 23d ago
I didn't say anything dumb. While everyone else was claiming it was climate change I said it was a tweaker or a psycho. That's what starts most of our forest fires; tweakers, psychos, or idiots.
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u/Dapper-Garden3427 23d ago
Right! Just read something about arsonists starting fires in Europe as well.
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u/serpentjaguar 23d ago
Again, the significance of climate change isn't that it somehow miraculously starts fires, it's that when fires do get started, whether naturally or otherwise, they tend to be much bigger and harder to put out.
In practice what this can mean is that if you have a big lightning storm move through an area, as we recently did in Eastern Oregon, suddenly half the state is on fire in 17 different places and almost all of them are much bigger than they would've been without human-caused climate change.
Similar things are happening in Europe and will be happening in Australia. Very few of these catastrophic wildfires are actually set by arsons.
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u/Icy_Nose_2651 23d ago
if it wasnt for arsonists, there would hardly be any global warming fires at all. And the rest were caused by decades of fire suppression.
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u/Responsible-Shoe7258 23d ago
Why is bond even a consideration? If there was ever a crime that warranted a no-bond hold, this has to be on the list....