Man charged with setting one of the 3 devastating Spokane area wildfires

A 37-year-old man was arrested Monday for allegedly starting the largest of the three devastating Spokane, Washington-area wildfires that are leaving some residents with nothing.

Aaron Farinacci, 37, a Spokane resident, was booked on suspicion of first degree arson in connection with the Old Trails Fire and was being held on $1 million bond, the Spokane County Sheriff's Office said.

Authorities began investigating Farinacci after a witness saw him kneeling near grass where the fire began, Spokane County Sheriff John Nowels told a press conference late Monday.

"We believe it was matches or a lighter. When he was detained ... he was found to be in possession of some waterproof matches and a butane lighter," the sheriff said, adding that Farinacci was only arrested in connection with the Old Trails Fire.

With some 67,000 people under evacuation orders amid the three blazes, hundreds could be coming home to total losses.

"All of our memories are gone," said Anna Andreachi, a Spokane resident whose home was lost in the blaze. "My dad just died, and all of his stuff was still in there, too."

More than 700 buildings in the Spokane area have been destroyed, and another 400 have yet to be assessed, officials said Monday.

"It's a nightmare situation," Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson said. "This is likely the worst natural disaster in Spokane history."

Joe Cvancara and his family managed to save their home by digging a fire line. But his neighbor's home and at least eight others in the area were destroyed.

Cvancara said he's grateful but that it feels like "almost survivor's guilt, in a way. Like, wow. So we're going to open our home to our neighbors. I know it's going to take a long time to rebuild."

The fires began Saturday, when extreme drought, bone-dry brush, high heat and wicked winds combined to create a dangerous environment for fires to spread quickly. Firefighters went door to door trying to save as many homes as they could, but were soon overwhelmed.

As of Monday, no deaths had been reported. Spokane County Sheriff John Knowles told reporters on Monday there were 14 people authorities were trying to get in touch with, but stressed that he didn't want to qualify them as missing.

"These are people who may have called for help or for help evacuating, and many of them likely did get evacuated," he said. "You know, with poor cell phone coverage, people's cell phone batteries die or they get to some place where they do find shelter and we haven't been able to reach them by phone. So, that's the task ... for those 14 people that we haven't been able to