Judge rules that man accused of igniting massive Holy fire will stand trial

The man accused of igniting the massive Holy fire will stand trial, a judge ruled Thursday, despite authorities not having any physical evidence either tying him to the suspected arson or detailing exactly how the blaze began.

Fire investigators, during a two-day long preliminary hearing, relied heavily on threats Forrest Clark is accused of making against fellow residents of rustic Holy Jim Canyon in making the case that Clark is responsible for the fire that in August burned through 23,000 acres in Orange and Riverside counties.

Early in the morning of Aug. 6, Clark began yelling and making threats at a neighbor he had long feuded with, testified Orange County Fire Authority Captain William Lackey. The neighbor, who later told authorities he feared for his safety, recorded part of Clark’s diatribe.

“Mark my words, you are going to die at 12:37,” Lackey quoted Clark as saying.

“Everybody who has been a (expletive) will be murdered and die the same way, and I will have 100 percent plausible deniability,” the captain said Clark remarked later in the recording.

Officials believe the fire broke out that same morning, sometime between 12:44 and 1 p.m., based on the reports of a couple who didn’t see smoke or flames when they drove into the canyon, but spotted them as they were leaving a short time later. Authorities initially believed the fire began in the cabin owned by the man Clark is accused of threatening, but now say it likely ignited in the general area of the cabin.

The same neighbor told authorities that Clark several years earlier said to him “If you mess with me I’ll blow up your truck and burn down your cabin,” Lackey testified. Another resident told investigators that Clark several years ago had told him “if you mess with me, I’ll burn your (expletive).”

Clark on Aug. 6 and 7 had long, rambling conversations with several fire investigators, they testified. He didn’t admit to starting the fire, the investigators testified, but speculated that it could have been ignited by a candle in his neighbor’s cabin window when asked how and where the fire could have broken out.

Officer Albert Banh of the U.S. Forest Service described Clark staring at him intently after the investigator asked him if he had started the fire, then responding “no, but maybe.”

Clark’s attorney, Deputy Public Defender Nicole Parness, noted that Clark had been placed on an involuntary mental health hold less than three weeks before the fire, had admitted to not taking his medication and had told the investigators that he had not slept for days. The defense attorney described Clark’s comments as “absurd.”

In determining that the fire was a result of arson, investigators said they ruled out other potential causes. But they acknowledged that they didn’t know the exact spot where it ignited, what heat source set it off, or if any flammable liquids were used.

Parness brought up a report filed by another fire investigator, who did not testify, that named another canyon resident as a potential suspect in setting the blaze. The Southern California News Group is not naming that man, since he has not been charged with a crime or identified by a law enforcement agency as a person of interest.

The defense attorney said the anger some residents held against Clark was the result of “canyon politics.”

“There are quite a few eccentric personalities, would you agree with me?” Parness asked Lackey of the residents of the rural community

“They are unique,” Lackey responded.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Gregg L. Prickett ruled that there was enough evidence for Clark to face trial for four felony counts, including arson and making criminal threats. On Wednesday, the judge had agreed to drop two felony counts of resisting arrest that Clark had been facing, at the request of Deputy District Attorney Jake Jondle.

Clark was ordered to return to court for an arraignment on Jan. 8. If convicted, he faces up to life in prison.