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Posted on 08/06/2026 6:38:04 AM PDT by Twotone
The man suspected of setting a fire that destroyed hundreds of Spokane homes and forced 60,000 people to evacuate was contacted by law enforcement last summer for two fires but never arrested, according to court documents.
Detectives say Aaron F. Farinacci, 37, was wearing the same green shirt, which says “Who needs luck, I have charm,” at one of last summer’s fires as the wind-driven Old Trails fire started Saturday on the West Plains that rapidly moved east, ravaging neighborhoods in northwest Spokane.
Law enforcement contacted Farinacci shortly after the fire started Saturday and released him without charges. They later developed probable cause to arrest Farinacci on suspicion of first-degree arson and booked him Monday night into the Spokane County Jail on a $1 million bond.
Farinacci made his first appearance Tuesday afternoon in Spokane County Superior Court, where Judge Tony Hazel maintained the $1 million bond.
Spokane County Prosecutor Preston McCollam said Farinacci “poses a danger to the community,” given the nature of the charge.
Colin Charbonneau, director of the Spokane County Public Defender’s Office, reserved argument with respect to probable cause, bond and release conditions.
A man at a Newman Lake address associated with a relative of Farinacci watched Tuesday’s court proceedings. The man declined to speak with The Spokesman-Review on Monday night in Newman Lake after news broke of Farinacci’s arrest. Court documents detail ‘suspicious’ behavior
Marc Titus, a Washington State Department of Natural Resources fire investigator, told investigators he was aware that a man with a similar description to Farinacci was contacted by investigators in connection to a fire on Aug. 11, 2025, in the Riverside State Park Equestrian area.
The Spokesman-Review reported at that time a small brush fire prompted a Level 2 “get set” evacuation warning that day.
In his investigation over the weekend, Titus shared photographs with Spokane County Sheriff’s detectives of the person who law enforcement contacted last August. The photographs show a man wearing shorts and a green T-shirt with the phrase, “Who needs luck, I have charm” in white letters.
The photographs also included a picture of Farinacci’s ID card and a BIC lighter.
Sheriff’s Det. Michael Drapeau wrote in a sworn to the court that Washington State Patrol troopers contacted Farinacci on a park bench seemingly out of breath from possibly running.
Drapeau recognized the man in the photos provided by Titus as Farinacci and said the shirt he was wearing last August was the same one he was wearing Saturday.
Drapeau also wrote that Spokane police officers contacted Farinacci during a fire/arson call on July 8, 2025. The details of that call were not included in the court documents.
The Old Trails fire Farinacci is accused of setting is one of three in Spokane County, together totaling over 10,500 acres. The causes of the other two fires, Autumn Lane and Fairview, are under investigation.
The Old Trails fire was reported around noon Saturday near West Euclid Road and North Old Trails Road, northeast of Airway Heights. Right place, right time
Paul Child, 64, told The Spokesman-Review on Tuesday he was driving away from his Euclid home with his grandson to pick up his grandson’s friend when he spotted a man standing on the other side of the BNSF Railway train track, which runs along the road.
Child said he didn’t think much of it because the man, later identified as Farinacci, wasn’t doing anything. But he did find it odd he was standing on the opposite side of the track from him, away from the road.
He said Farinacci turned around and looked at them as they drove by. Child said he continued driving, picked up his grandson’s friend and started driving home on Euclid.
He found Farinacci in the same area, about half a mile from his home, where he was spotted about 10 minutes earlier. But this time, Farinacci was bent over the grassy, brush area.
“When he saw us, he stood up and faced us, and he kind of was a little fidgety, moving back and forth a little bit, just kind of looked nervous,” Child said.
The three drove home, and about 10 or 15 minutes later, Child’s daughter, sitting on the back porch, noticed smoke in the distance.
Child ran outside and saw smoke coming from the area where they saw the man.
“My immediate thought was that SOB started a fire,” Child said.
His daughter called 911, and he called his neighbor who lives across the road from where the fire started.
Child said he, his grandson and his grandson’s friend hopped back in the car to notify people working at his neighbor’s house of the nearby fire, which was already a “pretty good size” as it burned in ponderosa pine and grass.
“It was out of control before the fire department even got there,” Child said.
He said he then flagged down an Airway Heights police officer.
“I was amazed at the speed it was going,” Child said of the fire.
Child said he was never worried about the blaze about a half mile from his house reaching his property because of where the fire started and the direction it was heading.
“My heart goes out to all the individuals that were affected by this fire and that hopefully they get a little comfort or a little bit of satisfaction that the individual that caused the pain and suffering is probably going to be held accountable for his actions,” Child said.
The fire started in a rural area with few homes around. Child said he believed he and his two passengers were the only ones who spotted Farinacci at the origin point.
He was there at the right place and right time, he said.
“I was there when I needed to be there,” Child said.
Spokane County Sheriff John Nowels praised Child for coming forward during a news conference Monday night about Farinacci’s arrest.
“As it happens in so many critical cases, it was citizens who were paying attention to their surroundings, being aware and willing to step up and say something that led to the quick apprehension of Mr. Farinacci,” Nowels said. Convicted for manslaughter
Marama Platt, who now lives in Idaho, was the Farinacci family’s backside neighbor in Mesa, Arizona, more than a decade ago. She and her sister would occasionally take care of Aaron Farinacci’s mother, Beth Farinacci, by dropping off meals at her house.
She hadn’t thought about him in years until Tuesday.
“My sister texted me and said, ‘The guy that started the Spokane fire was Beth’s son,” Platt told The Spokesman-Review. “We were talking about how shocked we were, that he is in Spokane and isn’t institutionalized.”
Farinacci has a history of mental health problems, according to court records. He was charged in 2010 with first-degree murder in the death of his stepfather, but later pleaded guilty to manslaughter. The Phoenix News Times reported Farinacci killed his father after he was asked to do the dishes.
“I remember I was in my house and we all heard the sirens,” Platt said. “My brother-in-law went over there and found out (what happened). They took (his mother) under their wing after that.”
Farinacci was sentenced to prison in 2012 and released in December 2020, according to Arizona inmate records.
“I was shocked I knew him,” Platt said. “We know the background of what he did before, and how horrible it was. He was free among people to do this. My heart aches for the people of Spokane and my heart aches for (his family). I can’t believe I’m saying that.” Farinacci identified
Mike Bunch, who lives in Farinacci’s neighborhood, said police and SWAT vehicles barreled down Elliott Drive early Monday evening and surrounded a Copper River apartment building where Farinacci was.
He said he did not see the actual arrest, but that the incident was over in 15 minutes. Bunch said it wasn’t the first time he’s seen SWAT in his neighborhood, located near Spokane Falls Community College.
“This neighborhood is something else,” he said. “The police are always here.”
Two women on Tuesday evening answered the door where Farinacci was living. One of the women said Farinacci didn’t live there but visited. They declined to comment further.
About 15 minutes after the fire was reported Saturday, sheriff’s Sgt. Kevin Mosher noticed a man matching the description of the suspicious person walking more than a mile from the area the man was first seen. He was wearing a green T-shirt, shorts, a fanny pack and backpack. The man said he was coming from the area of Euclid and the railroad tracks.
Mosher and sheriff’s Deputy Jerry Moffett detained the man, who identified himself as Farinacci.
Three witnesses in the vehicle driving on Euclid later identified the detained man as the same person they saw near the railroad tracks prior to the fire, according to Child and the deputies.
Moffett told Farinacci about the witnesses identifying him. Farinacci replied those witnesses don’t know “the whole thing.” Moffett found in Farinacci’s fanny pack a pack of cigarettes, a butane lighter and a box of Gofire brand waterproof matches. The box of 25 matches had 14 inside.
Farinacci told the deputy he bought the matches about three days before the fire broke out and he uses them to light his cigarette if the lighter goes out. He added that the matches were “wind proof.”
Farinacci told Moffett he left his Copper River apartment, 2865 W. Elliott Dr., about 9 a.m. Saturday to walk the same loop he walks almost every day.
Farinacci told deputies the roughly 4-mile loop is up Government Way and along the train tracks. Farinacci admitted walking along the tracks, but denied being in the area of the fire and starting it.
The deputies released Farinacci at the scene to prioritize evacuating residents, and were not aware of the “total facts of the incident” or the origin of the fire when they spoke to Farinacci. Neither had knowledge of any previous fire-related contacts with him.
“While they were aware Farinacci had been identified as a person seen leaving the area of the fire, they were unaware Farinacci was seen leaving the area of the fire origin,” the detective wrote. “While they were aware there was an active wildfire burning, they had no information as to the cause and circumstance of the fire origin.”
A Spokesman-Review reporter on West Trails Road and the Centennial Trail observed a man in a green shirt and backpack walking eastbound between 1 and 2 p.m. Saturday.
A man drove down West Trails Road and stopped next to a Spokane police officer who was parked at the Centennial Trail entrance to block traffic. He told the officer, “We saw that guy an hour ago.”
A fire official, now identified as Titus, stopped to intercept the conversation and asked the officer if he was going to stop the man in the backpack. The police officer indicated he could not leave his post at the time.
The official drove down the road, flashed the light on top of the truck and made contact with the man before heading back to the fire. Law enforcement sources confirmed to The Spokesman-Review on Monday evening Farinacci matches the paper’s description of a suspect wearing a green shirt with a backpack.
When Titus stopped Farinacci at that point, he identified himself and told Titus he’d just been interviewed by police, according to the . Titus had seen Farinacci walking away from the fire earlier, the records say.
Titus determined on Sunday the fire started at the same location the witnesses saw Farinacci and the cause of the fire was consistent with an open flame to vegetation, such as would be expected by a lighter or a match.
He was able to eliminate possible causes like train activity or electrical infrastructure.
Farinacci is set for an arraignment Thursday.
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Ignitions happen, even due to lightning strikes. In a properly managed forest, a fire is easy to extinguish. Yet the prosecutors and media always go after the guy with the match and never the people who owned outrageously dangerous levels of fuel. Why?
The biggest owner of outrageously dangerous levels of fuel is the Federill grub-a-mint.
Yes, our gov’t Forestry people are definitely not “managing” our forests. Absolutely criminal.
That's not Fedzilla's doing, is it...
See my reply #4.
If the homeowners insurance in that neck of the woods required defensible space around homes, from satellite pics looks like it was sadly lacking.
Can't blame Fedzilla for that, either.
Fedzilla set the entire legal playing field and fails to maintain those forests. That's why we have the system we do. Who pays for the firefighting is academic at that point.
Lots of reasons for these fires, but that doesn’t change the fact that due to environmental fantasies, the gov’t has decided to manage by leaving things to nature. That means removing fire brakes & roads, & leaving dead wood & underbrush on the ground. I’ve read where they won’t even fight a ‘naturally caused’ fire. Only those that were human caused. Not very sensible.
Here the tyrants are RIGHT NOW, in Spokane, ORDERING people to stay away from their own properties.
The hangings of irresponsible public officials should begin ASAP.
Spokane hotels are now filled with government bureaucrats, flown in from everywhere, when the victims, burned out and homeless, need the rooms.
FORGET ARGUMENTS ABOUT “MOTHER NATURE”
WE ARE NOT CONTROLLING THE CRAZIES THAT WE CAN & SHOULD PUT INTO MENTAL HOSPITALS-—WITH ABSOLUTELY NO RELEASE DATES.
THAT IS DEFINITELY UNDER OUT CONTROL===AND NO ONE WANTS TO STAND UP & SAY IT.
WELL——I AM SAYING IT & I MEAN IT.
LOCK THEM UP FOREVER & THROW AWAY THE KEYS.
UNDER OUR CONTROL...... TYPING TOO FAST
LOCK THEM UP FOREVER & THROW AWAY THE KEYS.
Agreed. Even if some can control the crazies with meds, they still will end up not taking them & harming somebody. Some folks just should not be out in society.
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