How a grandfather’s quick thinking led fire investigators to a Spokane arson suspect

Paul Child was driving with his grandson in a rural area near Spokane, Washington, when they spotted a bald man wearing a backpack and green T-shirt pacing on the side of the road Saturday.

“He was kind of walking back and forth,” Child told CNN on Tuesday. “He was kind of watching us, staring at us or looking at us as we were driving by.”

At first, Child didn’t give it much thought. But 15 minutes later, on the way back to his home after picking up his grandson’s friend, they saw the man in the same spot – “only this time, he was kind of bent over and looked like he was doing something in the bushes and the tree line on the other side of the railroad tracks,” Child said.

“Once he saw us, he just stood up and kind of acted kind of nervous … shuffling back and forth.”

Shortly after Child returned home, his daughter said there was a fire. Child ran outside and saw a plume of smoke billowing from the same place where he had seen the man.

“My first response was … ‘That S.O.B. started a fire,’” Child said.

The nervous-looking man acting strangely in the bushes turned out to be a convicted killer who would later be identified as the arson suspect in connection with one of three catastrophic wildfires devastating the Spokane area.

Child’s descriptions helped law enforcement identify Aaron Farinacci, 37, as a suspect in the Old Trails Fire, the first of three blazes ignited Saturday, officials said. Since the fires started, more than 10,000 acres have gone up in flames, tens of thousands of people have evacuated and hundreds of homes have been wiped out.

Farinacci, who told a sheriff’s deputy he did not start the Old Trails Fire, was arrested Monday and charged with first-degree arson. The Spokane resident made his first court appearance remotely from jail on Tuesday, and his bond was set at $1 million.

In the probable cause affidavit for his arrest, investigators revealed Farinacci was contacted last year about two other fires, though he was not charged in either case.

Farinacci’s arraignment is scheduled for Thursday. CNN has not been able to find contact information for his attorney.

As Farinacci appeared virtually in court, firefighters were out risking their lives battling the trio of infernos – including the Old Trails Fire.

While Child’s daughter called 911, the grandfather scrambled to notify neighbors about the rapidly spreading blaze. A police officer and firefighters raced to the scene, and Child flagged the officer down to tell him about the man he saw.

The officer relayed the description to colleagues before helping Child’s family and animals evacuate, the grandfather said.

“At that time, we didn’t know which way (the fire) was going to go, whether my only way in and out was going to be blocked or not,” Child said. “So we got out of there.”

Just as Child was pulling out of his driveway, the officer told him the sheriff’s department had detained a person who matched his description. Child, his grandson and his grandson’s friend went with authorities and confirmed the man detained was the same man they saw earlier.

But by the end of the day, that man would be released.

During Farinacci’s initial detention, he was wearing a fanny pack and a green T-shirt with the words “who needs luck I have charm” written on it, the affidavit says.

His fanny pack contained cigarettes, a butane lighter and a boх of heavy-duty waterproof matches, the court document states. Farinacci told a deputy he uses the matches to light his cigarette in case his lighter goes out.

When the deputy told Farinacci witnesses saw him coming from the area of the fire, “Farinacci replied that those witnesses don’t know ‘the whole thing,’” the court document states.

Farinacci said he was walking the same 4-mile loop he walks almost every day, which includes the area of the train tracks, the affidavit says.

“Farinacci denied starting the fire and denied being in the area of the fire,” an investigator wrote. “Farinacci was released at the scene and Deputies continued the process of evacuation and notification.”

At the time, the deputies “were not aware of the total facts of the incident including the point of origin or source of the fire, which only came to light” Sunday after a state fire investigator looked into the case, the affidavit says.

“While they were aware Farinacci had been identified as a person seen leaving the area of the fire, they were unaware Farinacci was seen leaving the area of the fire origin,” according to the affidavit.

When the state fire investigator responded to the scene Saturday, he spotted Farinacci walking away from the blaze and spoke with him, the affidavit says. By Sunday, the investigator had isolated where the fire started and “determined the cause of the fire was consistent with an open flame to vegetation such as would be expected by a lighter or a match.”

The origin of the Old Trails Fire was “indeed exactly where the witness had seen Mr. Farinacci kneeling in the grass,” Spokane County Sheriff John Nowels said. Investigators used body-worn camera footage of encounters with Farinacci to build their case and obtain an arrest warrant Monday.

Farinacci was arrested “without incident” Monday and charged with first-degree arson.

Farinacci was previously charged with murder in Arizona after fatally shooting his father during an argument about washing dishes in 2010, The Associated Press reported, citing records. In 2012, he pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to 12 years in prison. He was released in December 2020, court documents show.

Last summer, Farinacci was contacted by law enforcement about two fires in Washington state, including a “suspicious” blaze that started near his home, according to the probable cause affidavit. He was not arrested or charged in either case.

During the probe of the Old Trails Fire, which is still ravaging eastern Washington, the state fire investigator recognized Farinacci and his distinctive T-shirt from a fire investigation at Riverside State Park last August. That day, law enforcement found Farinacci “on a park bench seemingly out of breath from possibly running,” the affidavit states.

A sheriff’s deputy looked at photos from last August and “recognized the male in the photographs wearing the green short sleeve t-shirt with the phrase ‘who needs luck I have charm’ in white letters as Aaron F. Farinacci,” the affidavit says.

Child, the grandfather who helped lead authorities to Farinacci on Saturday, said he’s juggling an array of emotions. While he’s grateful his home was spared, many others – including a neighbor’s house – have been lost.

“I can’t really do anything to ease the pain and the devastation,” he said. But “at least I can give them some kind of comfort” knowing his efforts helped investigators find the suspect.