Man accused of setting Lake County fire steps into edgy courtroom

More than a half dozen sheriff deputies, bailiffs and probation officers stood guard Wednesday as the man perceived to be Lake County’s public enemy No. 1 appeared in court to face charges that he unleashed a devastating wildfire along with 11 other blazes in rural lakeside communities.

Shackled and noticeably trying to avoid the glare of the audience, construction worker Damin Pashilk walked into the courtroom in Lakeport wearing a white-and-green jail jumpsuit before shuffling to a seat in the jury box. The 40-year-old Clearlake, Calif. resident turned his body away from the crowd gathered to see him.

Moments before his entrance, a deputy had given Pashilk a cup of water after his attorney said his client had passed out.

Pashilk faces 17 felony counts of arson or attempted arson stretching back more than a year, and is being held on $5-million bail. Through his lawyer, Pashilk said he would enter a plea on Sept. 7.

Some Lake County residents had already rendered their own verdict. When county Sheriff Brian Martin announced Pashilk’s arrest at a community meeting in Middletown late Monday, residents — including some who lost homes — cheered.

“String him up!” someone shouted. “You’re going to hell, bud!” someone else cried.

Local residents who showed up for Pashilk’s court appearance said they wanted to see the man accused of sparking a dozen blazes that have caused more than $7 million in damage — the latest being the Clayton fire, which began Saturday night and ripped through Lower Lake on Sunday and Monday, destroying 175 homes and scorching over 4,000 acres.

“No one should damage their community,” grumbled “Hippy Joe” Fernandez, a Lake County resident, as he walked out of the hearing.

Authorities have offered few details of their case against Pashilk, whom state fire investigators say they’d been tracking for more than a year as a possible serial arsonist.

Authorities say they don’t want to jeopardize the prosecution in such a highly charged case.

“There’s families that lost everything. I can’t imagine going through that,” Lake County Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard Hinchcliff said outside the courthouse.

A probable-cause declaration submitted by an investigator and released publicly after Pashilk’s arraignment Wednesday alleged that Pashilk appeared to focus most of his fire ignitions near rural highways north and east of Clear Lake, the body of water that gives the town of Clearlake its name.

According to the document, Pashilk started two fires within 20 minutes on July 2, 2015, along California 20, a scenic highway that connects the town to Interstate 5.

The following month, he allegedly tried to start fires right in the middle of Clearlake, including one next to Pomo Elementary School.

Surveillance footage put Pashilk’s car near each of the fires when they started, the document stated. The Pomo Elementary fire was connected to Pashilk by a GPS tracker, prosecutors said.

Pashilk’s activity appeared to subside after the summer but picked up again last month, the document alleges.

Fires began to spark up again in Clearlake, then farther south in Lower Lake, along Highway 29, which runs along the lake’s southern edge and leads to Middletown.

At least half a dozen fires started along the highway, not far from where the Clayton fire ultimately began.

On July 27, Pashilk allegedly attempted to start a fire near the Holiday Island mobile-home park in Clearlake.

A week and a half later, GPS trackers put his vehicle near where a matchbook had been used to start a small blaze in Lower Lake that quickly burned out. Four days later, the Clayton fire was unleashed.

According to the document, “Pashilk was interviewed and could not provide an explanation to being at the ignition sites of the fires.”

Pashilk was arrested after a traffic stop Monday.

The criminal complaint alleges that he started six fires in July and August 2015 and five more in the same months this year, before the Clayton fire.

Pashilk’s charges also include accusations that he caused bodily injury to victims and emergency personnel and tried to destroy evidence.

He faces 24 years to life in prison, prosecutors said.

joseph.serna@latimes.com

UPDATES:

9:25 p.m.: This article was updated throughout with new editing.

This article was originally published at 5:05 p.m.