Ex-firefighter suspected of igniting devastating fire near Yosemite, could face life term

Prosecutors charged a onetime firefighter Tuesday with aggravated arson and other felonies that carry a potential life sentence for allegedly igniting the devastating Oak fire that destroyed 127 homes near Yosemite National Park.

Edward F. Wackerman, 71, was arrested Friday on suspicion of igniting the massive fire that also burned 66 outbuildings, forced a massive evacuation and consumed 19,244 acres of vegetation.

Mariposa County Dist. Atty. Walter Wall said in the days leading up to the Oak fire that three separate fires were intentionally set in the Carstens Road area. The Oak fire was ignited in dry forest brush in the same area by an arsonist, who was eventually identified as Wackerman, Wall said.

Wall would not address Wackerman’s motive but Mariposa County Sheriff Jeremy Briese acknowledged that Wackerman was once a firefighter; he said he does not know for which agency he worked.

Wackerman owns a 44-acre property in the Carstens Road area not far from the source of the blaze, according to county property records.

“The arrest of the arson suspect Edward Wackerman is a step towards justice but it cannot undo the damage already done,” Briese told reporters outside the Mariposa County courthouse. He noted that the blaze — the worst fire in the county’s history — did $8 million in property damage and cost $100 million to eventually knock down.

Wall filed one felony count of aggravated arson and three other counts of arson against Wackerman, charges that carry a potential life sentence upon conviction.

Edward F. Wackerman was arrested Friday on suspicion of arson in the Oak fire, which raged in the Sierra Nevada foothills near Yosemite National Park last summer.

(Mariposa County Sheriff’s Office)

“July 22, 2022, changed the lives of many residents as the Oak fire went through our community,” Sheriff Briese said. “As promised, we would use every available resource to bring you answers and today is that day.”

He said “hours of investigation turned into weeks, into months, but the persistence of a thorough investigation pinpointed this fire was deliberately set.”

Wackerman was taken into custody Friday without incident by sheriff’s deputies and investigators with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. He is slated to be arraigned Tuesday.

The 2022 Oak fire consumed 19,244 acres of vegetation.

(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

No one was killed by the devastating blaze but Cal Fire officials reported at least three firefighters were injured and thousands of people were evacuated.

The Oak fire began in the shadow of Yosemite National Park at about 2:10 p.m. July 22 in the area of Midpines. A combination of heat, low humidity and parched vegetation bedeviled firefighters battling the inferno that spread through the Sierra Nevada foothills, prompting Gov. Gavin Newsom to declare a state of emergency for Mariposa County. The blaze burned until early August before being fully contained with more than 2,000 firefighters battling the flames at its height.