You may recall Mendocino County’s 2021 Hopkins Fire, which destroyed more than 250 acres and nearly 30 homes, and now a 23-year-old man is on trial for the second time for allegedly starting it, after his first trial was declared a mistrial.
One of the most discouraging aspects of California wildfire season is that some of these incredibly destructive fires are started on purpose, and by arsonists. The currently raging Park Fire in Butte, Tehama, Plumas, and Shasta counties, a fire which is now geographically larger than the City of Los Angeles, is believed to have been caused by man pushing a burning car into a ravine.
And three years ago, Mendocino County’s Hopkins Fire torched 257 acres and burned nearly 30 homes, and authorities believe that fire too was intentionally set by a man named Devin Lamar Johnson.
It took a year-and-half for Johnson’s arson trial to begin, because of concerns about his mental competency. The trial was moved from Mendocino County to Marin County, and the jury deadlocked, resulting in a mistrial. Undaunted, Mendocino County District Attorney David Eyster just started another new trial in Marin County, according to the Ukiah Daily Journal, with the now-23-year-old Johnson now facing arson charges again.
The prosecution is basing part of its case on photographs from Ukiah freelance photographer Peter Armstrong, whose specialty is wildfire photos. Armstrong has photos allegedly placing Johnson near the source of the fire in the small Mendocino County town of Calpella not long after the blaze started.
No one was injured in the eighth-day Hopkins Fire, but dozens of homes were lost. “Nothing can replace what I lost that day,” homeowner Steve Schwartz told the Ukiah Daily Journal after the initial mistrial. “I lost 50 years of my life because I had stuff from when I was born and it will never be replaced.”
Per the Journal, the suspect Johnon was already on felony probation for attempted robbery when he was arrested on arson charges for the Hopkins Fire. He faces three charges of arson, an aggravated arson charge for burning multiple structures, and additional charges of arson of an inhabited structure, and arson during a state of emergency.
Image via PG&E
