Share
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
A 71-year-old man was arrested Friday on suspicion of starting a forest fire that destroyed more than 100 homes last year near Yosemite, fire authorities said.
Edward Fredrick Wackerman, of Mariposa, was arrested on suspicion of aggravated arson, arson that causes great bodily injury and arson causing damage or destruction of inhabited structures, Cal Fire officials said in a statement.
It didn’t provide details of what led to the arrest. No charges have been filed.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether Wackerman had an attorney to speak on his behalf.
Wackerman is suspected of starting the Oak Fire in Mariposa County in July 2022.
The fire injured three firefighters, burned 30 square miles of land and destroyed 127 homes and 66 outbuildings, Cal Fire said.
At its height, some 6,000 people were told to flee their homes after the blaze erupted near the community of Midpines.
The fire was one of several devastating blazes that swept through Northern California and other states last year.
The Mill Fire in Siskyou County that began in September 2022 caused two deaths and damaged or destroyed nearly 150 buildings.
On Friday, Cal Fire said investigators determined the Mill Fire was caused by operations at a wood products mill in Weed, California, near the California-Oregon border.
Roseburg Forest Products, of Springfield, Oregon, owner of the wood veneers manufacturing plant, announced last year it had reached a settlement agreement with more than 700 people who filed wrongful death, personal injury and property loss claims.
Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
The company previously said it was investigating whether the fire was caused by the possible failure of a water-spraying machine used to cool ash at the mill.
California has experienced increasingly larger and deadlier wildfires in recent years as climate change has made the West much warmer and drier over the past 30 years. Scientists have said weather will continue to be more extreme and wildfires more frequent, destructive and unpredictable.
RELATED TOPICS:
Ex-US Rep. George Santos Sentenced to Over 7 Years in Prison for Fraud and Identity Theft
9 hours ago
Selma Mayor Charged With Electioneering Violation on Election Day
9 hours ago
Stocks Rise With Tech-Related Shares, Notch Weekly Gains; Dollar Up
11 hours ago
Conflicting US-China Talks Statements Add to Global Trade Confusion
11 hours ago
Fresno Police Arrest 17 in Domestic Violence Crackdown
11 hours ago
Virginia Giuffre, Voice in Epstein Sex Trafficking Scandal, Dies at 41
5 hours ago
Categories

Virginia Giuffre, Voice in Epstein Sex Trafficking Scandal, Dies at 41

Higher Taxes on Millionaires? Trump Says He’s Open, but Many in His Party Are Not

Ex-US Rep. George Santos Sentenced to Over 7 Years in Prison for Fraud and Identity Theft

Selma Mayor Charged With Electioneering Violation on Election Day

Stocks Rise With Tech-Related Shares, Notch Weekly Gains; Dollar Up

Wired Wednesday: What’s the Future of Fresno Unified and the Superintendent Position?

Zakaria Draws Parallels Between Trump’s Tariffs, Failed 1930s Economic Policies
