A 26-year-old man has been arrested and charged with arson in the Thompson Fire, which burned 3,789 acres in the Northern California town of Oroville in early July.
Oroville resident Spencer Grant Anderson was arrested Thursday in Chico. He was charged Monday with arson of an inhabited structure, arson of forest land and arson causing multiple structure fires, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
The charges came after an extensive 50-day investigation by a team of Cal Fire investigators from across the state. At any given time, four to six investigators were monitoring Anderson 24/7 while others conducted a forensic investigation at the intersection of Cherokee and Thompson Flat roads, where the fire started, Cal Fire said.
After several hours of investigation, the team concluded that the fire was likely caused by a flaming object thrown from a Toyota sedan. On July 3, a day after the fire started, they linked the car to Anderson using license plate readers.
After his arrest, Anderson admitted to purchasing fireworks the day the fire started and driving to Cherokee Road to test one by throwing it out his window, Cal Fire said.
The fire broke out on a day when the risk of a fast-spreading brush fire was extremely high. Temperatures were over 100 degrees, humidity was low and winds were blowing from west to east.
The fire traveled more than 3.5 miles, destroying 13 homes and damaging 34 structures.
Anderson faces 21 years in prison if convicted on all counts. He is being held without bail at the Butte County Jail and will return to court Wednesday to set dates for his plea and preliminary hearings.
Oroville is about 20 miles south of Paradise, where the deadliest wildfire in California history, the Camp Fire, killed 85 people in 2018.
Tens of thousands of Butte County residents were placed under mandatory evacuation orders after the Thompson Fire started on July 2, including some who had already lost their homes in the Camp Fire.
