Sawt Falasteen - Arson suspect arrested as US northwest battles wildfires

Wildfires supercharged by drought and intense heat have torn through the city in Washington state, burning thousands of acres and reducing hundreds of buildings to cinders while anxious families await news on when they can return.

A 37-year-old suspect, Aaron Farinacci, was detained over the Old Trails fire on a charge of arson in the first degree and held on a $1 million bond after a witness allegedly saw him kneeling near grass where the fire began, Spokane County Sheriff John Nowels told a press conference late Monday.

Farinacci was initially detained near where the fire started on Saturday but released, before being taken into custody again after officers connected him to the fire, Nowels said, adding that the suspect had a previous manslaughter conviction.

"We believe it was matches or a lighter. When he was detained... he was found to be in possession of some waterproof matches and a butane lighter," the sheriff said, adding the suspect was not believed to be connected to two other major fires in the area.

Aerial flybys revealed somewhere between 700 and 1,110 structures have been lost since the fires broke out over the weekend, authorities said.

Three fires have combined to burn 8,026 acres (3,248 hectares) in the Spokane area according to InciWeb, a federal interagency information system, with firefighters making use of cooler temperatures, higher humidity and thick smoke to make "significant gains" against two of them.

Local officials said so far no one had been reported hurt.

Cooler temperatures were expected Tuesday, though the respite was expected to be brief, with a warming trend resuming mid-week that would raise temperatures into the mid to high-90s Fahrenheit (mid-30s Celsius).

Video of the fire's aftermath on Sunday showed scores of homes burned to the ground, while other houses nearby escaped practically unscathed.

"Just driving around looking at the homes -- it's just one of the most heartbreaking things I've ever seen in my life," Spokane resident Geoff Beadles told AFP, after evacuating with his fiancee and two dogs.

- More frequent fires -

Authorities are attempting to make contact with 14 people whom they have failed to reach by cell phone but are not yet presumed missing, Nowels said.

"I think the estimate is potentially up to 65,000 people we had to move out of these areas, and if you think about what that entails, the fact that we were able to get people out of those areas within several hours in an active fire zone is pretty incredible," the sheriff said.

Mayor Lisa Brown said authorities were combing the city block by block to assess damages and potential reignition, and couldn't tell people yet when they could return home.

"It could be weeks, depending on where your home and property is," she said.

"I think from a historical standpoint, this is likely the worst natural disaster in Spokane's history," Washington Governor Bob Ferguson added.

Ferguson declared a state of emergency on August 1, citing drought conditions and high temperatures exacerbating wildfires.

Human-caused climate change is increasingly creating conditions for more frequent and intense wildfires, through increased heat, extended drought, and a "thirsty" atmosphere that enhances the drying of organic matter.

The Spokane fires follow "one of the warmest winters on record for eastern Washington," which led to a severe snow drought, said Daniel Swain, a climatologist at the University of California, Los Angeles.

- 'Extraordinary wildfire season' -

The head of Washington's Department of Natural Resources, David Upthegrove, said the fires in Spokane were among 16 major blazes burning throughout the state of Washington, covering 262,000 acres.

"This is an extraordinary fire season," he said.

An outage map published by local utility Avista showed over 3,700 customers were without power due to the fires as of late Monday.

The Old Trails fire jumped the Spokane River on Saturday afternoon and crossed into the city proper.

Z.AlNajjar--SF-PST