California firefighter accused of setting fires in wine country

A California firefighter was arrested on suspicion of arson in a series of small fires that burned in wine country in recent weeks, officials said Friday.

Robert Hernandez, 38, was accused of setting five fires between Aug. 15 and Sept. 14 while off-duty, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire, said in a news release.

Hernadez, a Cal Fire apparatus engineer, allegedly ignited the blazes around Geyserville, Healdsburg and Windsor, the department said.

The fires combined burned less than one acre of wildland, the department said, noting that the fires were extinguished because of the “quick actions of residents and fire suppression resources.”

“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 department’s director, Joe Tyler, said in a statement.

Jail records show Hernandez is accused of five counts of arson to forest land. He was being held in lieu of $2 million bail, according to the records.

It wasn't immediately clear if he has a lawyer to speak on his behalf.

The region where Hernandez allegedly ignited the fires, just north of San Francisco, has experienced devastating wildfires in the last decade, including the 2017 Tubbs Fire that killed 22 people and burned nearly 6,000 homes and businesses.

Three years later, the Glass Fire damaged or destroyed nearly 3,000 buildings, according to Cal Fire.

More than 4 million acres burned across the state in 2020, setting a record for the largest number of acres burned in California in modern times, the department said.

So far this year, nearly one million acres have burned, including fast-moving blazes in Southern California that threatened tens of thousands of homes and prompted thousands of evacuations in the foothills of San Bernardino County.