Man charged with arson in Spokane, Washington, told police he planned wildfire for weeks

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — A Spokane County detective who interviewed the man accused of starting one of the city’s wildfires said the man confessed, described his planning process and explained how he created a device to ignite the blaze.

Detective Michael Drapeau said in a court filing Wednesday that Aaron Farinacci told him that he planned the Old Trails fire for about two weeks. He researched the weather to predict a day that would have “high winds, low humidity, sort of high heat.”

Farinacci also researched a well-known serial arsonist and purchased items to make a “time delay device” for igniting a wildfire using notebook paper, matches, a cigarette and a rubber band, the detective said.

The fire Farinacci was charged with sparking is one of three burning in the Spokane area that have burned more than 850 homes and forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of people.

Drapeau said Farinacci told him that “fire is powerful, beautiful, and that things that go through fire experience a kind of rebirth.”

Farinacci is due in court Thursday on an arson charge.

He picked Saturday, Aug. 1, to start the fire because he knew it would be windy — reaching 50 mph (80 kph), the detective said.

He picked a spot to start the fires “because he knew it ‘was gonna get bad,’” the detective said. Farinacci told the detective he knew it would be a large fire but didn’t intend for it to grow as much as it did.

He assembled a time-delay device that he ignited with a cigarette in grass, Drapeau said.

Farinacci told the detective that he ran from the tracks and headed for the street.