Arson

Spokane Arson Suspect Charged After Allegedly Admitting to 26 Fires

Is this a story of criminal arson or climate-driven catastrophe?

Published AUG 7

Spokane Arson Suspect Charged After Allegedly Admitting to 26 Fires

Story

Above: A woman and her husband sift through the remains of their home destroyed by the Old Trails fire in Spokane, Washington, on Aug. 4. Image credit: Josh Edelson/Contributor/AFP/Getty Images

The Facts

According to a court filing, Aaron Farinacci, 37, faces five counts of first-degree arson after confessing to starting the Old Trails Fire in Spokane, Washington, and admitting responsibility for 25 other fires since 2025. A judge set his bond at $2 million on Thursday and ordered a mental competency evaluation before arraignment.
OPB
FOX News
Court documents allege Farinacci planned the Old Trails Fire for about two weeks, researching weather conditions to find a day with high winds, low humidity and high heat. He chose Aug. 1, knowing winds would reach 50 mph (80 kph), and built a time-delay device modeled after one used by serial arsonist John Leonard Orr.
CNN
Newsmax
Farinacci was initially identified by a witness who saw a man crouching near grass at the site where investigators later determined the Old Trails Fire began. He was detained the same day but released, then arrested two days later after detectives linked him to the fire's origin point.
NBC News
FOX News
Detectives corroborated four fires beyond the Old Trails Fire, adding charges for the Aubrey White, TJ Meenach, Equestrian and Indian Bluff fires set between July 2025 and July 2026. Prosecutors noted that Washington state law treats each fire as a single act of prosecution regardless of the scale of destruction.
CNN
FOX News
The three Spokane-area fires that erupted on Aug. 1 burned more than 850 buildings and forced approximately 67,000 people to evacuate. Firefighters established containment lines around all three fires by Wednesday, though authorities warned that hotter, drier conditions were expected later in the week.
AP News
Reuters
Farinacci previously pleaded guilty to manslaughter and aggravated assault in 2012 after fatally shooting his father in Mesa, Arizona, in 2010, serving roughly a decade in prison. Court documents indicate he began setting fires in July 2025, shortly after his son was born in May of that year.
People
FOX 10 Phoenix

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The Spin

Climate-skeptic narrative

This case is a powerful reminder that not every catastrophic wildfire is primarily a climate story. Human actions — such as campfires, inadequate forest management and, in this case, deliberate arson — can be the decisive cause. When public discussion focuses exclusively on climate change, it risks obscuring preventable criminal acts and failures in law enforcement that deserve equal scrutiny.

Eric Daugherty on X

FOX News on X

National Post

Climate-concerned narrative

Farinacci must be held to account, but this story should not be used to dismiss the destruction caused from human-induced climate change. Focusing outrage solely on these charges distracts from the extreme drought and winds that turned small fires into the worst natural disaster in Spokane history. Aid and prevention efforts deserve priority over inflating a single suspect's role.