An arrest has been made in connection to the large fire burning across Lake County, California.
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Lake County sheriff’s detectives in coordination with Cal Fire arson investigators have arrested a man Monday implicated with sparking the Clayton Fire.
A California man has been arrested on arson charges over a fire that has destroyed more than 175 homes and threatens hundreds more.
It is possible that Pashilk is also behind other horrific crimes including several other fires over the past year.
No word of a motive.
Firefighters couldn’t protect all of historic Main Street and flames burned a winery, an antiques store, the old firehouse and the Habitat for Humanity office.
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.
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokesman Daniel Berlant didn’t have the breakdown of the number of homes, businesses and other buildings destroyed by the fire, which broke out Saturday and spans almost 5 square miles.
Despite getting some rain last winter and spring, Lake County is tinder dry.
But it was too late for Lower Lake resident Ruben Ybarra, who sat on an overturned bucket Monday morning, surveying the twisted and charred remains of what used to be his home on Copsey Creek Way north of downtown Lower Lake.
The weekend’s Clayton Fire was burning within a mile of the borders of the Rocky Fire. Some of the charges related to earlier fires.
In Southern California, forecasters warned of high fire danger due to a heat wave and gusty winds.
More than 1,600 firefighters were battling the flames, Cal Fire spokesman Daniel Berlant said, adding that receding winds had allowed crews to make progress cutting containment lines around the flames and putting out hot spots. Some 4,000 acres had been burned and most of the 175 structures destroyed were mobile homes and small bungalows.
Although there was no official count on how many homes were lost, Eric Sherwin of the San Bernardino County Fire Department said Tuesday that he had seen at least a dozen buildings go up in flames, some of them homes. No fatalities or injuries have so far been reported but the devastation has left scores homeless. They’re using a helicopter to lift 19 power poles damaged by the fire.
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Last summer, during a devastating period from the end of July through September, three major blazes came within a few miles to the east and south of town.
