PLACERVILLE, Calif. — Thousands of firefighters kept a huge and still-growing wildfire from burning homes in Northern California while a man with a long criminal history faced charges of deliberately starting the blaze that drove some 2,800 people from their homes, authorities said.
The wind-whipped wildfire had burned through 119 square miles of timber and vegetation east of Sacramento as of Friday morning and was just 10 percent contained but had yet to damage or destroy any homes or buildings, according to California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The fire grew overnight, but not nearly as substantially as it did on Thursday, when it more than doubled in size. Crews fighting the blaze were expecting lighter winds on Friday.
But those near the fire say it is powerful and dangerous.
"There are a lot of firefighters saying that this fire is producing fire conditions unlike anything that they have ever seen," Cal Fire Battalion Chief Joe Tyler said at a community meeting Thursday night. "It's creating its own weather overhead. Just the tinder-dry fuel conditions are igniting fuels every time — brush or timber — every time an ember drops on the ground."
Wayne Allen Huntsman, 37, was being held Thursday night on $10 million bail in El Dorado County Jail and was scheduled to be arraigned on Friday.
Huntsman faces a forest-land arson charge, along with a special allegation of arson with aggravating factors because the blaze east of Sacramento put a dozen firefighters in serious danger, forcing them to deploy their fire shields. They all escaped unharmed.
District Attorney Vern Pierson declined to say what led investigators to Huntsman. Investigators were in contact with Hunstman before his arrest Wednesday night in Placerville.
"It's something that's evolving at this point," Pierson said of the investigation. He did not know whether Huntsman had an attorney.
Huntsman's sister, Tami Criswell, said she doubts her brother started the fire, but if he did, it wasn't on purpose. Criswell said she and her brother were raised in Santa Cruz and often camped. She said her brother, who has worked in construction and private security, loves being in the forest and always was cautious with campfires.
"He's a really good guy," Criswell said. "He would never do anything intentionally to hurt anybody."