Cal Fire authorities arrested Damin Anthony Pashilk, 40, on suspicion that he may have also been connected to several fires in Lake County over the past year. Brown declares State of Emergency in Lake County due to Clayton Fire Pashilk has been arrested at least a dozen times before mostly for parole violations, but also on drug and weapons charges.
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Damin Anthony Pashilk, 40, has been charged with 17 counts of arson.
The Lower Lake fire broke out Saturday afternoon and exploded to almost 5 square miles as it fed on bone-dry vegetation.
CAL FIRE says more than 1,600 firefighters are fighting the blaze which as of Monday night was 5 percent contained. He is suspected in numerous fires in Lake County over the past year.
“Mr. Pashilk committed a horrific crime and we will seek prosecution to the fullest extent of the law”, Chief Ken Pimlott, CAL FIRE director, said in a statement.
A fast-moving Northern California wildfire has destroyed more than 175 structures and forced thousands to flee an area where drought conditions and high temperatures are making firefighting hard.
ABC reports officials are pulling out all the stops to tame this blaze.
Monday morning, a thick fog of acrid smoke blanketed downtown Lower Lake as tired firefighters began assessing the damage.
Highway 1 in central California has reopened after a daylong closure for removal of fire-weakened trees north of Big Sur.
Previous fires in the area had not driven families away, he said.
Officials confirmed four homes were destroyed, although eyewitnesses could see many more.
LOS ANGELES (AP) – A wildfire broke out Tuesday and spread at a staggering pace in every direction through drought-parched canyons east of Los Angeles, growing to 14 square miles in a matter of hours and prompting evacuation orders for more than 82,000 of people in mountain communities.
Wildfires hit Lower Lake for the first time in generations a year ago when three major blazes blackened towns and mountainous wildland close to the town.
A fast-moving wildfire threatened scores of homes at a Northern California lake community that was evacuated because of a devastating nearby wildfire previous year.
It’s unclear how arson investigators linked Pashilk to the blaze, or how the fire ignited.
“What I’d do to him, you don’t want to know”, said Butch Cancilla, who saw his neighbor’s home catch fire as he fled on Sunday. It was 60 percent contained and threatens more than 400 structures.
A pair of large blazes in the 1960s destroyed far fewer homes in the county that had just one-quarter of its current 64,000 residents at the time.
All California state parks in the area have been closed.
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“Everybody is just on edge”, he said. Did they get new evidence after Saturday’s fire?
