Maynard denied setting any fires, court documents say. Tire impressions at the remote site appear to match Maynard’s car. The investigation into that fire is ongoing, documents said, and arson has not been ruled out. While most of the fires allegedly linked to Maynard remained small, at least one - the Bradley fire of July 11 - destroyed more than 300 acres of forestland. Officials have long warned that even a single spark can grow into a massive fire amid the region’s bone-dry vegetation and record-breaking heat. It is one of 11 major wildfires burning across the drought-ravaged state, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said. The arrest comes as firefighters struggle to contain the monstrous Dixie fire, which swelled to more than a half-million acres Wednesday.

Tracking device data showed he had stopped at the location for about 30 minutes. He was arrested Saturday in a restricted area near the scene of the Conard fire, which was sparked the same day as the Ranch fire about three miles away. Charges have not been filed in those cases. In the weeks that followed, investigators used tire tracks, location data, EBT card activity and vehicle records to link Maynard to the sites of several other fires at the time of their ignition. When a second fire erupted early the next morning near the Everitt Memorial Highway on Mount Shasta, tire tracks at the scene matched those of Maynard’s car. “After visiting the scene and reviewing the facts in the case, I concurred that the ignition of this fire was not only suspicious, but consistent with arson,” Bolem said. The investigator said he was agitated and uncooperative when questioned.Ī search of the site led to burned areas on the ground consisting of sticks, newspaper material and a wooden match. Maynard was still at the scene when a fire investigator arrived because his car was stuck in a rut. He recalled Maynard “walking away in the same direction that the Cascade fire soon ignited” before returning about 10 minutes later, the affidavit said.

Forest Service special agent Tyler Bolem supporting the arrest warrant.Ī witness said Maynard arrived in the area that morning and appeared mentally unstable, at one point threatening the witness with a knife. Investigators first encountered Maynard at the scene of the Cascade fire, a July 20 blaze in a remote part of Shasta-Trinity, according to an affidavit from U.S. “It appeared that Maynard was in the midst of an arson-setting spree,” the documents say. Maynard is also suspected in at least six other fires that ignited in the Lassen and Shasta-Trinity National Forests in the last month. Gary Stephen Maynard, 47, has been charged with willfully starting the Ranch fire, which sparked on Saturday in Lassen National Forest and burned about an acre, according to documents filed in federal court this week. No structures were damaged or destroyed by the flames, and the Butte County Sheriff’s Office lifted most of the evacuation orders by the early afternoon.A former college instructor linked to a rash of arson fires has been arrested and charged with igniting a blaze on federal forest land, not far from the site of the massive Dixie fire in Northern California. The fire started July 20 on 14th Street and Grand Avenue in Oroville before it burned more than 11 acres and briefly forced residents to evacuate the area between Nelson and Grand avenues and between approximately Eighth Street and the southern portion of 16th Street. Investigators also allege Walker had a “substantial” amount of methamphetamine and heroin in his possession, Cal Fire-Butte County said in a press release. Walker was booked into the jail on suspicion of unlawfully causing a fire that causes great bodily injury, unlawfully causing a fire to wildland and arson during a declared state of emergency. OROVILLE - Cal Fire investigators arrested an Oroville man on Wednesday and believe he was responsible for starting a July 20 wildfire that prompted evacuations in portions of Thermalito.Īnthony Trent Walker, 39, of Oroville, is currently being held at the Butte County Jail on suspicion of starting the 14th Fire, Cal Fire officials said.

Dixie fire man arrested