Investigators Seek Clues in Slew of CA Brush Fires

Sep. 8—HEALDSBURG, CA — Posting colored flags on a charred hillside on the north side of this small Sonoma County city, Cal Fire investigator Jeremy Ward examined what clues the scorched earth and brush might show about a suspicious fire, just one of more than a dozen fires that briefly terrorized Healdsburg on Monday night.

All told, about 15 small fires ignited in less than two hours in an arch around the famous Wine Country town's western outskirts, drawing a cavalry of firefighters to douse the blaze and law enforcement officers to investigate what could possibly ignite so many fires in quick succession.

Though quickly snuffed out, these fires had the mark of possible arson, scattered along a circuitous path, igniting one after the other in the dry vegetation along roadsides, said State Sen. Mike McGuire, a Healdsburg Democrat, who raised the alarm on social media Monday night for local residents to be vigilant.

"These starts are incredibly suspicious," he told The Chronicle.

Suddenly, flames threatened homes and commercial structures in a crescent shape around this prized area of Sonoma County Wine Country.

Ozzy and Jamie Katz were driving home from a Rosh Hashanah dinner and were stopped by the alarming sight of flames on the hill near their house on Maybee Lane. In disorienting darkness, it looked as if the whole hill was aflame. Their 9-year-old son begged them to speed away.

They left and returned about an hour later, finding their home and neighborhood intact, apart from a smoldering, smoking grass hill.

Ozzy Katz pondered the possibility that someone had intentionally lit the fires that could have taken away so much for so many people.

"There is no financial gain from lighting fires. So why?" Katz said. "It must be a crazy mental deficiency."

Ben Nicholls, Cal Fire division chief, said most of northern Sonoma County's firefighting force flooded the area.

They found fires churning through drought-parched vegetation but spreading slowly without one of the most fearsome factor in fires — strong, gusty wind. Crews patrolled the area throughout the night and kept watch on the fire sites.

"It was a long night for some of the firefighters," Nicholls said.

Nicholls wouldn't speculate whether the fires were suspicious in nature, saying they hadn't determined any cause.

Each fire would be investigated as if it were the sole fire that night. Investigators start by examining the charred earth and vegetation to pinpoint the spot where the blaze started. Burned grasses might point in the direction a fire moves. Investigators try to follow markings on the scorched ground to the fire's origin. They look for indications of how and where the fire moved.

Then they will look for evidence such as materials left behind, sign of accelerants, a broken power line, debris from a passing vehicle.

They had just begun that painstaking work, Nicholls said.

"Until we have the origin and cause investigations done, I would be getting ahead of myself if I was to say more," Nicholls said.

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