Old Trails Fire Full Press Conference: Suspect arrested

[0:02] thank you for joining us on this special streaming report i am sydney schofield we want to give you [0:07] a look at a live picture from some local police agencies they are expected to provide an important [0:12] update about the old trails fire we're hoping to get that shot up for you that news conference is [0:17] expected to start here any minute now we'll bring it to you live it looks like it has begun let's [0:22] listen in i'm going to share some information with you about 5 p.m this afternoon we executed [0:29] an arrest warrant and search warrant in the city of spokane and we took 37 year old aaron farnacci [0:37] a convicted felon into custody on a single charge of arson in the first degree about three o'clock [0:44] this afternoon a an arrest warrant affidavit and a search warrant affidavit were presented [0:49] to judge zamblin she signed the arrest warrant and set a one million dollar bond on mr farnacci [0:57] mr farnacci is currently in custody and being interviewed by detectives from our major crimes [1:02] unit here in the spokane county sheriff's office this investigation began at the beginning of the [1:09] fire on august 1st thankfully we had some very aware and alert citizens they were driving into the area [1:18] where the fire started uh near euclid and i'm trying to remember the name of the street yeah old trail [1:26] and euclid um the the witness a citizen very good citizen um noticed a male uh standing on the side [1:35] of the road looking into the trees as he was going to pick somebody up about 10 minutes later as he was [1:40] coming back through the area he noticed the male was bending down near some grass at that point the [1:45] male stood up and looked very nervous according to our citizen witness at that point the uh the male [1:54] walked away the citizen returned to their house a short time later after being at home they saw smoke [1:59] coming from what they believed was the area that they had seen the male bending down by the side of [2:05] the road they the witnesses there did a fantastic job of returning to the scene they contacted an airway [2:13] heights police officer gave that police officer a description of the suspect including a physical [2:19] description and a clothing description that description was broadcast to units in the area [2:24] and be mindful at the time this was a very active very early stages of the fire so officers and deputies [2:31] in the area were focusing on getting people out of the area to protect life as a first priority [2:37] um mr fernacci was contacted in the area about a mile and a half from where the fire started and was [2:46] detained questioned and ultimately released after being identified by our citizen witness mind you that [2:55] a lot of the details that have come to light during the investigation were not known to the deputies who [3:01] detained mr fernacci that day but because of body worn camera evidence and reports [3:08] when major crimes detectives started investigating that early yesterday they were able to identify him [3:15] and working with investigators from the department of natural resources and major crimes detectives in [3:21] spokane county they were able to identify him develop probable cause and determine that the origin of [3:27] the fire was indeed exactly where the witnesses had seen mr fernacci kneeling in the grass earlier that day [3:35] our detectives worked with our prosecutor preston mccollum this morning to make sure that we had a very [3:43] solid case to present to a judge today and again as i said the judge signed the warrant at 3 pm and we had him [3:50] in custody at 5 pm with the assistance of our swat team's warrant assistance group this was fantastic and very quick [3:58] work by everybody involved as it happens in so many critical cases it was citizens who were paying [4:06] attention to their surroundings being aware and willing to step up and say something that led to [4:12] the relatively quick apprehension of mr farnacci mr fernacci is a convicted felon out of the state of [4:22] arizona he has a felony conviction for manslaughter and a proceeding arrest in the same case in premeditated [4:30] murder in the state of arizona i will say that we had a lot of cooperation from fire investigators [4:38] and other people involved in this case and and we will make sure that he is uh this investigation as [4:48] it goes forward and by the way it is a continuing and ongoing investigation we will be looking into [4:55] any other crimes mr farnacci may have committed in the past we will also be looking into other charges [5:05] that may come about as the facts and circumstances of the old trail fire come to light and come to be [5:11] known just know that this charge is what we have probable cause for right now it is a serious [5:18] charge it is significant but these charges may change as the investigation goes on and again [5:25] other facts and circumstances come to be known i'm going to turn the time over to prosecutor mccollum [5:32] here and then we'll have questions after that i don't have a whole lot more to add to this part of my [5:39] purpose in addressing each of you is to indicate again this is an active and ongoing investigation to [5:44] the extent that the public could have information about mr farinacci or about any other involvement [5:50] we are asking for the public to provide that input as the sheriff pointed out today it was through the [5:56] diligent work of vigilant citizens who were noticing things that were awry in their community who were [6:02] noticing things that were different who actually reported it and who took the time to engage with [6:06] law enforcement and make sure that the necessary information was shared and so as the sheriff indicated [6:11] our major crimes detectives have been working very hard and very diligently [6:14] uh detectives uh craig cupo and detective mike drapo have been working uh frankly through the [6:21] night uh they've been on this until early morning hours this morning and then started working first [6:26] thing with my office uh as soon as essentially the sun was coming up so they've been working very [6:31] diligently but there's still a lot of information to collect a lot of information to go through [6:35] and the community is able to provide a lot of that input and so we are asking for your help that even [6:41] amidst all the difficulty and the struggles that we're facing as a community that we are sharing and [6:47] communicating with law enforcement your concerns separate and apart from this case especially right [6:53] now especially during these summer months when we have red flag warnings when we have the weather [6:58] conditions that we presently have we need to be vigilant as a community vigilant as neighbors as a [7:03] neighborhood and make sure that we're being responsible with our actions but also reporting [7:10] things early whether it's to fire or to law enforcement and making sure that they can respond [7:15] you know appropriately and so there was a lot of information to pour through in this matter [7:19] and it's still very much an ongoing unfolding scenario and what we've presented at this moment is [7:25] what the sheriff has largely described we do have a case filed there'll be a first appearance at a [7:31] minimum tomorrow and we will proceed where the facts of the case the evidence the law permit us to [7:38] Alex with the spokesman um can you say what you believe the suspect was using to start the fire [7:49] we believe it was matches or a lighter when he was uh detained uh in the early stages of the fire [7:56] he was found in to be to be in possession of some waterproof mashes and a butane lighter can you [8:03] say if this was near the railroad tracks um i personally can't say all i know is is the with the help of [8:11] the dnr fire investigator we were able to say within 10 i think 10 square meters of where the he was seen [8:18] as where the initial uh fire was started he the fire investigator was also to testify in these court documents [8:25] that the fire was consistent with being set by nothing other than a match or a butane lighter um and [8:33] igniting grass is that sorry is that why there's pink tape around that area right now i have no i mean [8:40] if it was if it was an active evidence scene it would not be it would be with crime scene tape or [8:45] things like that so can you also spell his last name uh farinacci f-a-r-i-n-a-c-c-i again first name [8:55] aaron aaron middle f as in frank 37 years old um we had another question you're typing yeah okay anything [9:07] else um so i actually was on north government way um i had to race down the mountain or the hill um when [9:19] the fire was coming towards me and there was a man walking on the side of the road and um someone [9:25] had come down from from the hill and tracked down a spokane police officer and pointed this person out [9:32] and i witnessed i think another agency pull him over but it was um it didn't look like a police officer [9:39] it looked like a fire uh investigator or you know a park ranger um i'm just curious if you had other [9:48] people in the area that were being tracked down because i'm i guess i'm just wondering if this [9:53] was the same person or any description of what the suspect was wearing at the time or where he was [9:58] found because i was on that road and i just want to confirm yes well we we did have the description [10:04] that was put out to everyone the incident you're describing i have no independent knowledge if it was [10:08] related at all as you can imagine there were probably a lot of people contacted for a lot of [10:13] different reasons for um you know either going through roadblocks or doing other things um but [10:19] i am unaware of mr farin actually being contacted at any other time so a description of what he was [10:27] wearing it sounds like you have a description of what he was wearing yeah yes sir is there any [10:35] indication that this could have started any of the other fires in the area or was this specifically the [10:39] old trail fires only yes ma'am and so i know he has the previous arrest for premeditated murder and [10:48] the felony conviction for manslaughter but do we know if he has a history of intentional fire setting we [10:55] have no no documented criminal history of intentional fire setting and again we will be you know [11:01] investigating past behavior as a part of this investigation of the ongoing investigation okay and [11:07] is he a spokane resident yes as far as we can determine right now he's a spokane resident um and [11:13] and i will say as part of our investigation uh mr farin actually has been contacted into uh regarding arson [11:21] related behavior although no previous arrests or convictions okay and are you able to share where [11:27] he was found that half mile away from where the fire what what i can tell you is when he was contacted [11:34] it was about a mile away from where he was originally witnessed okay do you know how long he's lived in [11:42] spokane i do not know so do you have uh did did he say why he did this um again he is in custody [11:53] right now um and i know he made statements when he was detained about we didn't know the whole story [11:58] or something to that effect and that again is in court documents as well and again and he is he is [12:04] currently uh being interviewed last update i got is there any who was arrested on suspicion of what [12:10] first degree arson i'm sorry so he said to you all you don't know the whole story to the to the deputies [12:18] who detained him that was a statement he made and again that is in the charging affidavits said first [12:25] appearance was going to be minimum tomorrow correct likely yes it will be tomorrow barring any [12:30] disruption to court services or anything like that you know during an ongoing you know disaster [12:36] do we know if he was living in the area burned do we know if his home where we took him into custody [12:44] was not it was about four miles away from where the actual burn was started okay so not necessarily in [12:52] the area um and i and we do know the witnesses we talked to have seen him in the area before and uh [12:59] was known to walk in that area so we don't know why he was there no other than being on a walk uh any [13:08] other possessions he was found with firearms no no firearms no ma'am otherwise we he would be charged [13:19] with that so is that it can you i just said can you describe his condition when he was uh detained the [13:28] first time or the second time like did he appear to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol none [13:33] of that was mentioned in any of the reports and he was arrested today without incident okay we're [13:45] going to talk about drones real quick kind of a separate thing and i don't know if this has to be [13:48] live streamed or anything like that but i don't mind if you do um i i will say within the last couple of [13:54] hours our air support units our our air uh firefighting units had to be grounded because we have had drones [14:02] flying in in the the zones that they are restricted from i have said it several times today and i need [14:10] to continue to re-emphasize to our public there is a specific zone that they are not allowed to fly [14:16] drones in no drones at all we had four cases where we had drones directly yesterday in the path of [14:25] firefighting apparatus from the air we have cases that we have referred to the faa for one hundred [14:33] thousand dollar fines each for being in that zone because they are actively disrupting firefighting [14:39] efforts we have an fbi task force for counter drone measures here in place we have a task force [14:47] officer here from spokane county is federally deputized and seven deputies from king county here [14:52] using the same equipment that we used in fifa to to do counter drone mitigation they are here we are [14:59] taking it very seriously we are contacting several people including media outlets who are flying drones [15:06] in this restricted area we are done playing games with this we have fires that are growing and our [15:13] firefighters need all the help they can get it is going to become very very serious and they're going [15:19] to get very very weighty penalties from the federal government if they continue to do this you know [15:27] we're done giving warnings for this so for the members of our public members of our media who want [15:32] to fly drones there are proper channels to go through to get authorizations to do that the public [15:37] won't get them media can sometimes get them make sure your paperwork's in order for our media and make [15:44] sure for our private citizens stay out of those zones that are restricted you will be contacted [15:51] by our law enforcement teams if you're flying drones there and and we're done playing games with it i've [15:57] had a lot of people ask me well what does it mean to be flying in restricted space and a lot of folks [16:01] think that well we can send up a drone and try to get photos and see what's going on in the neighborhoods [16:05] but if you putting up that drone puts our emergency services at risk you put the pilots at risk you put any [16:12] crews at risk you also hamper the ability to actively engage the fire you hamper the ability to drop fire [16:20] retardant to drop water and that that that really hampers operations moving forward and so i'm here [16:27] to say that it is not worth it to your fellow citizens to our community members so that you can have photos [16:33] okay and so we need to be able to make sure that our emergency services have priority over that space [16:38] so to the extent there are criminal charges that can be brought they will be brought [16:42] to the extent there are penalties that the federal government can impose they will be doing so because [16:47] right now we're fighting for our community we're fighting to save a certain area certain homes and [16:52] it's just not worth it to have pictures and so our encouragement to everybody is do your absolute best [16:58] to refrain from sending those drones up if you're seeing them in a space that's restricted please let law [17:04] enforcement know because if we have an air crew come in and then they go down because they connected [17:08] with the drone that's simply not worth it and so i'm just asking that individuals think about [17:12] that before they put something in the sky that puts our law enforcement and our emergency services [17:16] at risk real quick chief uh chief ellis is the head of our air support unit who deals with this did you [17:24] have any further comments you'd like to pass along or any wisdom i'd just say you know that the tfrs or temporary flight [17:29] restrictions are published by the faa it's on their websites it's a requirement of any drone operator [17:34] to check those tfrs before they launch to make sure that they're in full compliance of it um you [17:40] know the saying is that if you're flying firefighters can't fly so um you know it's a it's very serious [17:46] issue and we want to make sure that we can protect this community yes sir uh could those penalties rise [17:52] past that hundred thousand dollar fine if this continues to start happening could we start to see [17:55] arrests or even larger financial penalties there's potential for that yes and again [18:03] all of these task force officers they are federally deputized with the fbi so they do have arrest [18:07] authority from the federal government um and and again if this keeps it keeps happening we will [18:13] exercise that any other questions okay thank you guys appreciate you coming in on short notice all [18:27] right we are just coming out of that press conference with spokane county sheriff john knolls [18:30] spokane valley police chief dave ellis and spokane county prosecuting attorney preston mccullum so [18:36] the big news today is there was an arrest made an arson arrest in connection with the old [18:40] trails fire that was started over the weekend they say they've arrested 37 year old aaron for nachi [18:46] in connection to that he's facing a first degree arson charge right now being held on a one million [18:50] dollar bond it looks like he will likely appear in court as early as tomorrow although we do know that [18:56] there are some issues with the fires causing some issues with some delays in our court system right now [19:01] so that that is a possible delay that he could face but it does appear that he will be [19:06] in court tomorrow sheriff john knolls was telling us today that it was concerned citizens alert [19:13] citizens who saw this take place they saw who they say was 37 year old aaron for nachi they saw him [19:19] near where the old trails fire started which was in the area of euclid and old trails they say they [19:25] noticed a man standing there kind of bending over they noticed he was acting sort of suspiciously [19:30] um and then not long after that they saw smoke coming from where he was bending over in the grass [19:37] in that area they reached out to law enforcement i gave a description of both what he was wearing and his [19:42] physical appearance and not long after that he was contacted by um by law enforcement they they spoke to [19:48] him for a while they let him go they said they didn't have enough evidence or enough information at [19:52] that time to continue holding him but later they did make an arrest in fact they went to a judge [19:56] today at around three o'clock they got an arrest warrant signed they served that arrest warrant [20:01] today at five o'clock 5 p.m tonight and they took 37 year old aaron for nachi into custody on first [20:07] degree arson in connection to starting the old trails fire they did also say that he is a convicted [20:13] felon he has a felony conviction for manslaughter out of arizona he doesn't have any criminal history [20:18] they said of arson that they're aware of any documented criminal history of that although that charge [20:23] was out of arizona it's unclear how long ago he he was a convicted felon related to that manslaughter [20:28] charge he is a spokane resident now although the sheriff is unclear on how long he's lived here in [20:33] spokane at this time the sheriff did say that he was very grateful to citizens for keeping a close [20:38] eye on what's going on and reporting it when they saw a concern we will certainly keep you updated on [20:44] that case as we learn more we did also find or he did also disclose today in that press conference that [20:50] for nachi was in possession of waterproof matches and a butane lighter at the time that he that they [20:56] that they contacted him they do believe that that is how the fire may have started they said the the [21:01] fire start is consistent with that so certainly we will keep you updated now the sheriff did close [21:07] out the press conference by talking about drones and issuing a warning in no uncertain terms about [21:12] flying drones in the areas under temporary flight restrictions he said very simply they're done [21:18] playing games with this they will issue 100 000 fines per violation they're reporting it to the faa [21:24] they also have a task force here keeping a very close eye on drones flying in the path of this fire [21:29] or near the fire at all they say that they had to ground air support units today because there were [21:34] drones flying in these restricted areas they said that there were four cases yesterday of drones [21:39] flying in the direct path of aircraft trying to fight these fires we also heard from preston mccullum [21:44] spokane county prosecuting attorney he's imploring the community to think about the risk that they [21:49] are putting our firefighters in by doing that by flying those drones they said if you know a firefighting [21:55] aircraft goes down because you're trying to get pictures of the devastation they said obviously [22:00] that's certainly not worth it so in no uncertain terms they are issuing a warning absolutely do not fly [22:05] any drones in the areas under those temporary flight restrictions as they continue to try to get these [22:10] fires in our region under control you can find all of that tfr information on the faa's website and [22:16] again we will keep you updated on this arson arrest that was made late tonight we're going to continue [22:20] to track all of this please join us tonight for the night report at 10 and 11 o'clock be safe out there [22:25] we'll see you soon