Is California on fire because of arson attacks? All the arrests so far
Dark orange skies & red fog – the West Coast wildfires leaves us wondering whether doomsday is upon us.
The raging wildfires across California, Oregon, and Seattle don’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon. Latest news reports an estimated twenty people dead in California, eight in Oregon, and one in Washington.
Although firefighters & volunteers are doing their best to extinguish the fires, there are people out there who don’t want the “party” to end just yet. Police have investigated separate incidents near existing wildfires leading to the arrest of four people: two men in Washington State, one man in Oregon, and one woman in California. The four suspects are being charged with suspicion of arson.
Something isn’t right here
Ashland is an Oregon Shakespeare Festival town that almost lived up to its name after a recent fire sparked in the city that killed two people and destroyed hundreds of homes. The Police chief of Ashland, Tighe O’Meara, announced that a criminal investigation had been opened, calling the circumstances around the fire “suspicious”.
“We have good reason to believe that there was a human element to it,” O’Meara said, according to Reuters. “We’re going to pursue it as a criminal investigation until we have reason to believe that it was otherwise.” No one has been arrested yet, but the case remains ongoing.
Caught red-handed
As for Almeda, Oregon, a man under investigation is forty-one-year-old Michael Jarrod Bakkela. Police accused him of starting a separate fire near the railroad tracks in Phoenix, Oregon. A statement released by the police said that while the Almeda fire burned, “Residents witnessed Bakkela lighting a fire behind their house on Quail Lane.”
When the Oregon police arrived at the scene they said they saw Bakkela standing near a fire threatening several homes. He was charged with two counts of first degree arson, 15 counts of first degree criminal mischief and 14 counts of reckless endangering.
Antifa, is that you?
After a series of fires emerged near highway 101, all traces led back to thirty-seven-year-old Anita Esquivel who was arrested in Monterey County, California. According to local journalist Aaron Groff, “ . . . a woman was arrested in Salinas this morning accused of Intentionally starting fires on the side of Highway 101 near Boronda.”
Groff added, “Amazing how dangerous this is considering the heat/fire conditions we are seeing locally around California.” Esquivel is being charged with arson and has a bail listed at $100,000.00. She was said to have ties to far-left groups like Antifa; however, the district attorney was quick to dismiss any affiliations between the two.
Washington mystery
According to Daily Mail, two unidentified men were arrested in connection to the fires in Washington. One man started a fire on State Route 167 at Meridian and the other man started a fire on State Route 512.
Is doomsday upon us or is this solely the work of arson attacks?
