A 26-year-old man has been arrested and is suspected of arson The Thompson firethat burned 3,789 acres in the northern California town of Oroville in early July.
Oroville resident Spencer Grant Anderson was arrested in Chico on Thursday. He was charged Monday with arson of an inhabited structure, arson of woodland and arson that caused multiple buildings to burn, according to California. Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
The charges came after an extensive 50-day investigation by a team of Cal Fire investigators from across the state. At any given time, four to six investigators had Anderson under 24-hour surveillance, while others conducted a forensic examination at the intersection of Cherokee and Thompson Flat roads, the location where the fire started, Cal Fire said.
A few hours into the investigation, the team concluded that the fire was likely caused by a flaming object thrown from a Toyota sedan. On July 3, a day after the fire started, they linked the car to Anderson using a license plate reader.
After he was arrested, Anderson admitted to buying fireworks the day the fire started and driving to Cherokee Road to test one by throwing it out the window, Cal Fire said.
The fire started on a “red flag day” – when the potential for a fast-moving brush fire was extremely high. The temperature was over 100 degrees, the humidity was low and the winds blew from west to east.
The fire traveled more than 3.5 miles, destroying 13 homes and damaging 34 structures.
Anderson could face 21 years in prison if convicted on all charges. He is being held without bond in the Butte County Jail and will be back in court Wednesday to set dates for his arraignment and hearing.
Oroville is about 20 miles south of Paradise, where deadliest wildfire in California historycamp fire, killed 85 people in 2018.
Tens of thousands of Butte County residents were placed under mandatory evacuation orders after the Thompson fire started on July 2, including some who previously lost their homes to the wildfire.