A fire apparatus engineer with Cal Fire suspected of starting multiple fires in Northern California was arrested Friday morning, officials said.
Robert Hernandez, 38, of Healdsburg is suspected of starting five fires while he was off duty, according to a news release.
Those fires are the Alexander Fire on Aug. 15, the Windsor River Road Fire on Sept. 8, the Geysers Fire on Sept. 12, and the Geyser and Kinley fires on Sept. 14.
“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,” Director and Fire Chief Joe Tyler said in the news release.
The fires burned less than an acre of wildland combined, according to the news release.
Hernandez was booked into Sonoma County Jail and charged with five counts of arson of a structure or forest land, a felony, and for also committing the arson within an area that was proclaimed as a state of emergency, according to the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office and the state penal code .