Man arrested after series of west Santa Rosa grass fires

A suspect in three arson fires set last week in west Santa Rosa was arrested on the Fourth of July after he was found near the scene of four new fires, Santa Rosa fire officials said Monday.

Saturday night’s four grass fires were clustered around the intersection of Marlow and Guerneville roads, each set about an hour apart.

On Thursday, three suspicious fires burned dry grass in the area of Piner and Fulton roads, also about an hour apart. Two days earlier, two suspicious fires burned along Piner Road.

All of the fires charred dry grass and were extinguished before spreading. But some had been close enough to homes and businesses to pose a threat had conditions gotten away from firefighters, Battalion Chief Mark Basque said Monday.

A suspect, identified by witnesses at all three spots Thursday, was detained but released due to lack of evidence. Fire Division Chief Scott Westrope had talked to the man Thursday, and when similar fires began cropping up Saturday, Westrope remained in the Marlow and Guerneville roads area for hours, watching to see if the same man showed up.

“I was hedging my bets somebody might come back and check out their handiwork and sure enough, I was driving down Guerneville Road and saw the subject, the same gentleman,” he said.

Westrope said he pulled alongside the man, “who gave me a wide-eyed look” and began walking away. The fire official said the man then complied after being told to stop and wait for police officers.

James Raymond, 61, was arrested on suspicion of one count of arson. The man, who told detectives he lived in the Marlow Road area, was booked into the Sonoma County Jail in lieu of $40,000 bail, Santa Rosa police Detective Mark Azzouni said. Raymond remained in custody Monday night.

Raymond tossed a lighter to the ground after being stopped, Azzouni said.

The Fourth of July is typically busy for firefighters watching for any fireworks that ignite brush. “We didn’t expect somebody to be running around starting fires,” Westrope said.

Saturday’s first fire was reported at 5 p.m., with the others happening almost on the hour until 8 p.m., fire officials said.

“In essence (the arsonist) hit locations at three out of four corners of Marlow (and Guerneville) Road. In all four instances, there were houses in the path,” Basque said. “He wasn’t fooling around.”

At least two of the fires were set on property with 4-foot-high, unmowed grass - a violation of the city’s weed abatement regulations. Those fires took longer to put out, fire inspector Toby Rey said

You can reach Staff Writer Randi Rossmann at 521-5412 or randi.rossmann?@pressdemocrat.com.