One of the most destructive wildfires in recent Washington state history has taken a shocking turn, with newly unsealed court documents revealing the man accused of starting the blaze deliberately planned it on a hot, dry, windy day to maximize its spread.
Thirty-seven-year-old Aaron Farinacci, the suspect taken into custody earlier this month, has additionally confessed to setting 25 smaller wildfires across the Spokane area over the preceding 12 months, according to investigators’ sworn affidavits. Farinacci made his second court appearance Thursday, where a Spokane County judge increased his bail to $2 million and ordered a full mental competency evaluation after he declined to enter a plea at this stage of proceedings.
The Old Trails Fire, the largest of three active blazes burning around Spokane — Washington’s second-most populous city — has already triggered one of the largest evacuation events in the region’s recent memory. More than 60,000 residents, roughly a quarter of Spokane’s total population, were forced to flee their homes as the fire swept through suburban and exurban areas on the city’s outskirts over the weekend. The inferno has destroyed more than 700 structures to date, though officials have not confirmed any fatalities or serious injuries. At present, 14 people remain unreachable via mobile phone, but authorities have not formally classified them as missing.
Court documents lay out detailed, disturbing claims about the premeditation behind the largest fire. Investigators wrote in the affidavit that Farinacci told police he began planning the Old Trails Fire two weeks before ignition, using a weather app to identify the ideal day with high winds, low humidity, and unseasonably high temperatures. Detectives also uncovered evidence that the suspect studied methods used by a notorious convicted arsonist to build a time-delay ignition device, allowing him to leave the area before the fire started.
Per the affidavit, Farinacci began experiencing significant personal distress after the birth of his son in May 2025, which led him to develop an unhealthy obsession with wildfire and arson. He started setting small blazes in July 2025, and had set 25 total fires by the time he was arrested in August. In his police interview, he told investigators he viewed fire as “powerful, beautiful,” and believed that landscapes impacted by fire underwent a form of rebirth. He acknowledged he knew the blaze “was gonna get bad” but claimed he never intended for it to grow to the catastrophic size it reached.
Farinacci was arrested on Monday after witnesses reported seeing him kneeling in dry grass near the ignition point of the Old Trails Fire. When taken into custody, deputies found matches and a lighter in his possession. During Thursday’s court hearing, the suspect appeared visibly distraught: he kept his head lowered and repeatedly rubbed his eyes as the judge set bail and ordered him returned to police custody.
News of the arrest and Farinacci’s alleged confession has sent shockwaves through the Spokane community, particularly after reports emerged that he was already linked to two separate fire investigations last year. For many residents who lost everything, the revelation that the blaze was intentional has sparked mixed reactions. Some survivors told the BBC they have already expended all their emotional energy on recovery, and lack the capacity to feel anger toward the suspect, choosing instead to focus on processing their own trauma. Others said the confirmation of arson brings a measure of closure, ending speculation that the fire was an unforeseeable accident or naturally caused ignition.
Matt Kincanon, a resident who lost his home in the Old Trails Fire, summed up the sentiment of many affected residents. “I hope that if it’s proven that he did do this, I hope the punishment will fit the crime,” he said. “Because what he allegedly did turned over the lives of so many people.”