Spokane Fire: Arson Suspect Faces New Charges as Crews Fight

More than 1,500 firefighters from two dozen states are working 16-hour shifts to contain the Spokane Complex Fire in Washington state, as the man accused of starting the largest of three blazes faces new arson charges for fires dating back to 2025. The fires have damaged or destroyed nearly 850 structures and displaced approximately 67,000 people since igniting on Saturday, according to NBC News.

A Fire on Multiple Fronts

The Spokane Complex Fire consists of three separate blazes: the Old Trails Fire, the Autumn Lane Fire, and the Fairview Fire, all burning in and around Spokane, Washington’s second-largest city. As of Wednesday evening, firefighters had established containment lines around all three fires, with the Old Trails and Autumn Lane fires each 13% contained and the Fairview Fire 5% contained. Combined, the fires had burned 10,546 acres.

Tom Stokesberry, spokesman for the California Interagency Incident Management Team coordinating the multiagency response, said “tremendous progress” has been made. “If our lines hold through the weekend, I think we’re going to be on the path to not having this fire move anymore,” he told NBC News. “But it’s still going to be a long recovery phase.”

Crews are sleeping just five to seven hours a night and working 16-hour shifts, with deployments typically lasting two weeks before fresh crews arrive. “It’s trying on them, but they’re here for the long haul,” Stokesberry said.

The Eyewitness Account That Broke the Case

The investigation into the Old Trails Fire’s origin began with a neighbor’s sharp observation. Paul Child, 64, was driving along railroad tracks in his rural neighborhood northwest of Spokane when he spotted a bald man in a green T-shirt standing near the tree line on a closed dead-end road. About 10 minutes later, smoke began rising from the exact spot where the man had been seen.

“He was bent over in the brush, acting nervous,” Child told Fox News. “You get the feeling this guy’s up to something.”

Child’s daughter, Ana Dillon, spotted the smoke and called 911. “I just happened to look up and saw a huge cloud of white smoke, then black smoke,” she said. “The fire was coming toward us, so we packed up everything, everyone and animals.”

An Airway Heights police officer located a man matching Child’s description about 1.5 miles from where the fire started. The man, later identified as Aaron F. Farinacci, 37, was initially released because the cause of the fire had not yet been determined. He was arrested on Monday after investigators developed additional evidence.

“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 relatively quick apprehension of Mr. Farinacci,” Spokane County Sheriff John Nowels said.

A Troubled History

Court records reveal a long and troubling history for Farinacci. In 2010, at age 21, he fatally shot his father during an argument over washing dishes in Mesa, Arizona, before shooting himself. He pleaded guilty in 2012 to manslaughter and aggravated assault and served about eight years in prison before his release in December 2020.

According to NPR, Farinacci was discharged from probation in February 2024, though the discharge order noted he failed to complete a mental health evaluation or domestic violence treatment. He was also contacted by law enforcement during two fire investigations in 2025 - one involving several “bus-sized” fires near his apartment in July, and another at Riverside State Park in August where he was found on a park bench “seemingly out of breath from possibly running.”

Now, Farinacci is expected to face four additional counts of arson for fires dating back to 2025, according to Spokane County Sheriff John Nowels, as NBC News reported. He was charged Monday with first-degree arson in connection with the Old Trails Fire and is expected to be arraigned Thursday. His bail has been set at $1 million.

Court records show fire investigators concluded the blaze originated where Child reported seeing the man. They ruled out trains and nearby electrical infrastructure before determining the fire was consistent with dry grass being ignited by an open flame from a match or lighter. Farinacci was carrying a pack of cigarettes, waterproof matches, and a butane lighter when first contacted by deputies.

Drone Interference Threatens Firefighting Operations

Progress on the fires was hampered this week when 40 drones entered restricted airspace and forced aerial crews to land until flight paths were cleared. The FBI Counter UAS Task Force detected 26 unauthorized drones on August 2 and 13 more on August 3, according to the Washington State Patrol. At least one incursion forced aerial firefighting operations to stop temporarily.

“If you fly, we can’t,” Stokesberry said. “It puts crews at risk. It puts life and property at risk, the infrastructure at risk. It puts everything at risk.”

The FAA established a Temporary Flight Restriction covering the airspace around the fires, and federal authorities granted a law enforcement task force the authority to down drones by electronic disruption if they cross into restricted airspace.

A State Under Strain

The Spokane fires are part of a broader crisis gripping Washington state. Governor Bob Ferguson declared a statewide wildfire emergency on August 1, including a statewide burn ban through September 30, as the state faces a record-setting fourth consecutive drought. More than 1,000 fires have burned approximately 425,000 acres - the most since 2021 - according to the Governor’s Office.

“Our record-setting drought and high winds are creating dangerous conditions across the state,” Ferguson said. “I am declaring an emergency to help prevent loss of life and property damage.”

Ferguson described Spokane as a “war zone” in an NPR interview, saying neighborhoods in the city had been “wiped out.” The fires have been called “likely one of the most destructive in state history” by Michael Kelly of the Washington State Department of Natural Resources, surpassing the 2023 Grey and Oregon Road fires that destroyed 350 structures.

With more than 200,000 acres currently burning in 12 large fires across the state, officials are bracing for what could be one of the worst fire seasons on record. “We’re looking down the barrel at one of the worst fire seasons in state history,” said Thomas Kyle-Milward of the Washington DNR, as The Guardian reported.

What’s Next

As temperatures are expected to climb from the 80s into the upper 90s later this week with no rain on the horizon, officials are warning that the danger is far from over. Sheriff Nowels said evacuation zones will remain in place. “We are not going to be downgrading these zones in any large way for many, many more days to come,” he said. “If we let people back in and we don’t have a high degree of certainty the fire lines will hold, we will put people in danger.”

For the thousands of displaced residents waiting to learn the fate of their homes, the uncertainty is agonizing. “I hope it is still there,” said Charlie Patrick, 54, an evacuee at the Red Cross shelter. “I have a lot of memories and pictures and stuff of my family I can’t get back.”

Farinacci’s arraignment on Thursday will mark the next legal step in a case that has captivated the region. As Child, the eyewitness whose report helped crack the case, put it: “My heart goes out to everybody. Hopefully the individual that caused all their pain and suffering is going to be held accountable for those actions.”