Four Tacoma-area men and a Kent man charged in connection with the deadly Chelan Hills Fire in Douglas County were on vacation in the area, according to court documents. They allegedly continued to set off fireworks after being told that they’d started a fire and rented jet skis later that day.

Valentin V. Tabunscic, 18 of Tacoma, allegedly told Douglas County Sheriff’s Office detectives that he arrived in Chelan on July 3, and he and his friends got a hotel and were just “hanging around.” He reportedly said he was with about 20 people.

Investigators determined Tabunscic was driving a Dodge Ram north on U.S. Highway 97 with five people in the bed of the truck when the fire started shortly after midnight July 4. According to charging documents, cell phone video showed Michael Yakimov, 18, shooting a “Trooper Turrett” firework from the truck bed. The firework is designed to discharge 240 Roman candles in under a minute.

While Yakimov shot the fireworks, Tabunscic allegedly drove into the wrong lane of travel to allow another group in a Mercedes “G-Wagon” SUV behind them to pass. Yakimov fired at it, sending some fireworks into dry brush along the side of the highway.

The resulting fire burned nearly 10,000 acres, destroyed dozens of homes and structures and killed 69-year-old Robert M. Lister, who died in a Toyota Rav4 while evacuating from the fire with his family. Court documents say the fire was so hot in his SUV that his remains were almost completely gone, “as if they had been cremated.” Six firefighters were injured trying to extinguish the blaze.

Tabunscic, Yakimov of Kent, and three other men have pleaded not guilty to first-degree manslaughter for the death of Lister, along with other offenses.

Also charged were Julian Mikityuk of Pacific; Mark Okhrimchik, 19, of University Place; and David Radchanka, 18, of Roy. Charging documents say they were all in the bed of the Dodge Ram when the fire started. All five defendants also have been charged with first-degree arson, first-degree malicious mischief and six counts of third-degree assault.

Tabunscic and Mikityuk have been released on bail to electronic home monitoring, according to court records. Yakimov, Okhrimchik and Radchanka remained in custody Friday at the Chelan County Jail.

Detectives say they are still working on obtaining probable cause to arrest a sixth person who was in the Dodge.

A witness called 911 shortly after midnight on July 4 and reported that she and her husband saw what happened. According to the probable cause document, the couple was also driving north on the highway when the Dodge and the Mercedes passed them.

Her husband reportedly saw the fireworks hit brush on the side of the road and catch fire. They stopped, and the husband tried to put out the flames with a fire extinguisher, but he was unsuccessful.

Detectives later interviewed a person in the Mercedes who said they and the group in the Dodge stopped at a gas station shortly after the fire broke out. There, someone in the Mercedes allegedly told the people in Dodge that a fire had started, but they denied starting it and claimed another car behind them started it.

At about 12:45 a.m., a Snapchat video allegedly showed the Dodge and the Mercedes at Entiat City Park on the west side of the Columbia River. The video allegedly showed Okhrimchik and the driver of the Mercedes standing in the bed of the Dodge and shooting fireworks into the sky.

Earlier in the night, surveillance video from a Safeway in Chelan allegedly showed two people from the Dodge and four from another vehicle with the group pretending to scan items at self-checkout but not paying.

The Dodge allegedly returned to the Safeway at about 10:15 p.m. According to the probable cause document, surveillance footage showed what appeared to be Okhrimchik and Yakimov lighting fireworks into the sky from the parking lot.

The person in the Mercedes who spoke to detectives reported seeing the people in the Dodge the next day, but he said the other group left to go jet skiing.

Investigators later searched the Dodge and found a rental receipt. According to the probable cause document, detectives believe Tabunscic provided his driver’s license to Sunrise Watercraft Rentals on July 4 in Chelan.

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