Former Fire Trainee Held in Connection With Series of Blazes : Crime: A 22-year-old man who was once in a Boy Scout firefighters program is charged with 10 counts of arson. Investigators say he often helped evacuate people from fire scenes.

A 22-year-old former firefighter trainee was charged with 10 counts of arson Thursday for allegedly setting a series of small blazes across the South Bay, including fires near his Torrance home, a Hermosa Beach comedy club where he worked and a bar in Redondo Beach.

Arson investigators said Douglas R. Hunziker, who was thrown out of the firefighter Explorer Program two years ago for stealing, would sometimes report the fires to authorities or help evacuate people from the scene, actions they said are common for so-called vanity arsonists.

Hunziker, who was arrested outside his Torrance home Wednesday afternoon and is now in custody on $500,000 bail, will plead not guilty to the charges during an arraignment today, said defense attorney Darryl W. Genis of Torrance. He faces a maximum penalty of 18 years in prison if convicted on all counts.

Investigators had considered Hunziker a suspect in a string of South Bay fires for months and even took him into custody once in November for allegedly setting fire to a power boat parked on a Torrance street, said Torrance fire inspector Michael Freige.

But prosecutors, citing the difficulty of winning arson convictions, declined to file charges against Hunziker at the time because of a lack of evidence.

Fire investigators returned to prosecutors in mid-December with several more suspicious fires, but again the district attorney’s office ruled there was insufficient evidence to tie them to Hunziker. That same day, on Dec. 12, a small fire broke out at a Torrance driving school that Hunziker was attending.

The latest break in the case came Jan. 19 when a manager at the Red Onion restaurant on Harbor Drive in Redondo Beach recognized Hunziker dining there, said Redondo Beach fire investigator Richard Martinez. Fire investigators had provided Hunziker’s photograph to restaurant managers after a suspicious fire broke out there Dec. 11.

The manager told an employee to keep an eye on Hunziker, and soon afterward the suspect entered the restroom and allegedly set fire to paper toilet-seat covers with a disposable lighter, Martinez said. Hunziker’s attorney maintains that the toilet-seat covers had burned before his client entered the men’s room.

Genis said the case against Hunziker is built on nothing more than circumstantial evidence linking him to various fire scenes.

“They’re saying where there’s smoke, there’s fire and where there’s fire, there’s Douglas Hunziker,” Genis said. “They didn’t find any fingerprints on a doorknob or matches in his hand . . . or anything but guilt by association.”

Authorities said Hunziker had been an enthusiastic trainee in the Explorer Program run jointly by the Boy Scouts and the Los Angeles County Fire Department. From 1989-1990 he completed roughly 300 hours of training classes and rode along in engines in Battalion 7, which covers Carson and adjacent unincorporated areas.

Investigators said he was thrown out of the program after admitting that he stole an ambulance driver’s wallet.

The string of fires that Hunziker has been charged with began in July with the boat fire across the street from an ex-girlfriend’s house in the Hollywood Riviera section of Torrance, fire officials said. Additional cases include the driving school fire and a small blaze at a four-car garage at the ex-girlfriend’s Torrance home. Hunziker himself reported a fire that broke out July 5 in a trash container in front of his home.

A Nov. 11 fire at the Hermosa Beach Comedy and Magic Club, where Hunziker was working as a doorman, broke out in a storage area during a performance. Hunziker has been charged with that fire and two others at the club.

When firefighters arrived at the comedy club, Hunziker was playing a major role in evacuating the 200 guests, firefighters said.

“Once the smoke was going, I signaled a couple people and we started moving everybody out,” Hunziker told a reporter at the scene. “Everybody went out very calmly.”

In a brief telephone interview in November, Hunziker denied that he had set any fires and accused investigators of making him the scapegoat so they could close their investigations. He said he was embarrassed by the whole situation.