Cal Fire engineer faces arson charges, suspected of sparking 5 Northern California wildfires

A Cal Fire firefighting engineer accused of sparking at least five fires in Northern California forest lands was arrested Friday by investigators.

Stunned Cal Fire officials announced the arrest Friday of the suspect, 38-year-old Robert Hernandez of Healdsburg. Investigators say the apparatus engineer arrested at the Howard Forest Station, in Willits, set the North Bay fires while off the clock. The firefighter was expected to be booked into Sonoma County Jail on charges of committing arson to forest land.

“I am appalled to learn one of our employees would violate the public’s trust and attempt to tarnish the tireless work of the 12,000 women and men of Cal Fire,” the agency director and Fire Chief Joe Tyler said in announcing the allegations.

State fire officials suspect Hernandez of triggering the fires in August and September in the areas surrounding Geyserville, Healdsburg and Windsor in Sonoma County.

The fires include four ignited in a matter of days over the last two weeks: the Windsor River Road Fire on Sept. 8; the Geysers Fire on Sept. 12; and two days later, the Geyser and Kinley fires that burned Sept. 14.

The first blaze, the Alexander Fire, was allegedly set Aug. 15.

The wildfires were small, burning less than an acre combined. Cal Fire credited quick work by residents and firefighters to stop their spread and later thanked residents “for their vigilance and information” leading to the arrest.