Bipolar Bay Area Professor Arrested For Setting Fires Near Dixie Fire

Maybe it isn’t the existential threat of global climate change?

Maybe the Dixie Fire that burned Greenville to the ground is just another example of their own homegrown West Coast lunatics combined with progressive forest management?

The Daily Beast:

“A criminal justice professor allegedly went on an arson spree in Northern California along the edges of the gargantuan Dixie Fire in late July.

Gary Maynard, age 47, set a series of fires in Lassen National Forest and Shasta Trinity National Forest, an area in rural Northern California near where the Dixie Fire, the second-largest in state history, still burns, federal prosecutors allege. California Forestry Department agents arrested him Saturday. He is charged with intentionally setting fire to public land and is being held without bail in the Sacramento County Main Jail.

“There are simply no conditions that could be fashioned that could ensure the safety of the public with respect to this defendant,” a federal prosecutor told the presiding judge Tuesday, according to the Sacramento Bee. …”

As we saw last year, there are plenty of sociopaths who live in that area who get a thrill from watching the world burn.

CBS News:

“A man who taught criminal justice at Sonoma State University is accused of setting fires around the massive Dixie Fire and in Shasta County, California. CBS Sacramento reports Gary Maynard, 47, was arrested on Saturday and is charged with setting fire to public land.

He is accused of setting the Ranch Fire in Lassen County, as well.

The Dixie Fire has grown roughly 5000 acres since Monday night, and has burned more than 490,000 acres. It is 27 percent contained. …”

NBC News:

“GREENVILLE, Calif. — Randy Hovland has lived in this tiny Northern California mountain town since 1968, but the familiar sights that defined his life for more than a half-century have now been reduced to ash and rubble.

The Dixie Fire that has raged across the region charred his store, the Indian Valley Thrift Shop, and an art studio he had been working on for nearly three years. It destroyed the homes of 15 relatives who live in town — including his sister’s house, where he lived as a boy.

“The emotions are gone,” Hovland said as he looked out at the wreckage of his thrift store. “I’m just trying to stay focused and do what I’m here to do: helping rebuild.”

The Dixie Fire, revved up by dry vegetation and 40 mph wind gusts, ripped through this Sierra Nevada community last week, wiping out a gas station, a church, a hotel, a museum, neighborhood schools and dozens of homes. …”