Paul Child didn’t want to get into trouble that Saturday. He was on his way to a neighbor’s house through a quiet, fielded stretch outside of Spokane, Washington. His grandson was in the passenger seat. And then they saw a man pacing on the side of the road. As they drove by, he looked at them. The child saw. Put it away. Didn’t give it much thought.
But 15 minutes later, on their way back with his grandson’s friend, they saw the same thing. The same man was still there, but this time he was bent over near the bushes and moving quickly and jerkily. There was something wrong with it. The child still had no idea what he was seeing. Not yet.
His daughter got a call a few minutes after he got home. Fire. When the child went outside, he saw smoke coming from almost the same spot where the man had been standing. That’s when it went through.
After three days, things went badly in eastern Washington. It burned more than 10,000 acres. A lot of people who lived there had to leave. Hundreds of homes were burned down at the same time by three different wildfires in the Spokane area. And Aaron Farinacci, 37, of Spokane had been arrested and charged with first-degree arson in connection with the Old Trails Fire, the first of the three fires.
This was confirmed by Spokane County Sheriff John Nowels: “indeed exactly where the witness had seen Mr. Farinacci kneeling in the grass.” An investigator into the fire came to the conclusion that it was caused by an open flame touching dry plants, like what you would get with a lighter or a match. When the police first caught Farinacci in the area, he had waterproof matches and a butane lighter on him. He said he didn’t start the fire. He said he was nowhere near it and that he walked that route almost every day.
He was questioned and then let go. That part hurts a little now that I look back on it. At that point, the deputies didn’t fully know where the fire started. That’s when body camera footage was looked at, the investigation got deeper, and an arrest warrant was issued. On Monday, Farinacci was finally caught for good.
The history of Farinacci makes things even more complicated. Court records show that he admitted to killing his own father and assaulting him seriously in Arizona in 2012. He did his time and got out in December 2020. Since then, he had been living in Spokane. In terms of the arson charge, the courts will decide if any of that past does matter legally. But I can’t help but think about it for a moment.
He went to Spokane County Superior Court through a video link from jail. His bond was set at $1 million, and his arraignment is set for Thursday.
In an interview with CNN, Washington Governor Bob Ferguson made it clear: the thought that one of the fires might have been started on purpose “harrows and breaks our hearts even more.” A lot of people in Spokane are probably feeling the same way, but this is a more measured way to say it.
Most people in Paul Child’s shoes would want to do what he did: he paid attention, remembered what he saw, and called the fire department when it was necessary. He says that officers told him in less than 30 minutes that they had arrested someone who fit the description he gave. Then he and his grandson were sure it was the same person.
The speed with which a quiet Saturday drive led to the start of a criminal case is almost like a movie scene. It’s not a movie, though. There is smoke. The families who had to leave are real. The homes that were burned down are real. And Aaron Farinacci’s trial is likely to be long and closely watched in an area that is still very much on fire.
