On Friday morning, a Cal Fire firefighter was taken into custody on charges of igniting five different wildfires in the state in the previous six weeks. According to a press release from the organization, Cal Fire Law Enforcement officers detained the 38-year-old fire apparatus engineer at a Mendocino County, California, fire station on suspicion of “arson to forest land.”
The announcement quoted Director and Fire Chief Joe Tyler as saying, “I am appalled to learn one of our employees would violate the public’s trust and attempt to tarnish the tireless work of the 12,000 women and men of CAL FIRE.” Tyler also mentioned that Hernandez was apprehended by the agency thanks to the residents’ “vigilance.” According to the announcement, Hernandez is suspected of intentionally setting five different fires between August 15 and September 14 while he was not on duty. Every fire occurred in Sonoma County.
The combined flames only burned one acre of land, thus citizens’ quick responses and the efforts of fire suppression personnel limited the damage from those fires, according to Cal Fire. According to Sonoma County Jail records, Hernandez is being held on a $2 million bail and is charged with five counts of arson of forest land. It’s unknown if Hernandez has hired legal representation. According to a 2016 report by the National Volunteer Fire Council, there is no national system in place for gathering data on arson incidents involving firefighters.
“Without an official source for data on firefighter arsonists, researchers, fire service leaders, and investigators are forced to extrapolate based upon samples of known cases,” the report said. “A survey of news articles suggest that over 100 firefighters a year are arrested for arson.”
A 34-year-old man was taken into custody earlier this month in relation to the ongoing San Bernardino County Line Fire. He is charged with nine crimes, including allegations of arson that resulted in damages above $7 million, breaking a firefighter’s ankle, and demolishing a house in the Running Springs neighborhood, according to San Bernardino County District Attorney Jason Anderson. According to Cal Fire, as of September 1, law enforcement officials had taken 91 suspects into custody for suspected arson. Cal Fire has taken 923 accused arsonists into custody since 2016.
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