Ex-Firefighter Trainee Gets 11 Years for Arson Fires

A former firefighter trainee from Torrance has been sentenced to 11 years in state prison for setting a series of South Bay fires, including several at two South Bay nightspots and one at a Torrance driving school.

Douglas Hunziker, 22, must serve at least five years before he becomes eligible for parole, Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard Wilson said. Hunziker has been jailed since his arrest in January at the scene of a small restroom blaze at the Red Onion nightclub in Redondo Beach.

Pomona Superior Court Judge Clarence A. Stromwall, who handled the case because of scheduling problems in Torrance, rejected defense requests for a sentencing postponement to allow time for private psychiatrists to examine Hunziker.

Stromwall has 120 days to alter Hunziker’s sentence if defense attorney Darryl Genis files psychiatric reports that indicate a change is in order.

Genis said he intends to have Hunziker examined and expressed disappointment that Stromwall refused to postpone sentencing until after the reports can be completed.

“Douglas Hunziker actually could have started these fires and believe that he didn’t,” Genis said. “I’m not a psychiatrist, so I’m not even going to begin to get into this kid’s head . . . (but) a mental deficiency which falls short of a defense is a mitigating factor that should have been taken into account at sentencing.”

Jurors last month convicted Hunziker of six felony arson counts and one misdemeanor charge in connection with a seven-month string of fires. Among those blazes were one at his home, one near a former friend’s home, three at a Hermosa Beach comedy and magic club where he worked, one at a driving school he attended and one at the Red Onion’s nightclub he frequented.

In 1989 and 1990, Hunziker completed about 300 hours of firefighting classes as part of an Explorer Scout program run by the Boy Scouts and the Los Angeles County Fire Department. He was expelled after he admitted stealing an ambulance driver’s wallet.

Wilson argued at trial that Hunziker was a vanity arsonist, setting fires so he could evacuate people and help douse the flames.

Stromwall sentenced Hunziker to the maximum term allowed by law.

“I wanted the highest and longest term we could get to protect the community, and that’s what I got,” said Wilson, who urged that Hunziker be given psychiatric treatment to control his pyromania. “For now, we get him off the streets, but we also need to deal with whatever problems were causing him to set fires.”