Man Arrested On Suspicion Of Reckless Burning That Started Spirit Fire In Marin County

MARIN COUNTY (CBS SF) -- A Petaluma man was arrested Tuesday evening after claiming to have started a grass fire on the ridge above Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, according to authorities.

Crews finished fighting the so-called Spirit Fire burning near Woodacre on Wednesday evening. An evacuation order was placed by authorities Tuesday afternoon, but was lifted Tuesday evening.

73-year-old Henry Walker flagged down a Marin County Fire Battalion Chief at the scene and claimed to have started the fire, police said. Walker had minor injuries from attempting to put out the fire himself after it got out of control.

Walker admitted to setting personal effects on fire while on the ridge, police said. He was arrested and booked into Marin County Jail on felony charges of reckless burning.

Marin County Fire initially tweeted about the fire burning at about 4:40 p.m. Air and ground units were on the scene.

An evacuation warning was issued for east Rancho Santa Margarita shortly before 5 p.m. "out of an abunance of caution," according to Marin Fire..

By 5:30 p.m., the fire had grown to approximately 10-12 acres and was at 30 percent containment, but the forward rate of spread had slowed, according to the Marin County Sheriff.

By around 6:10 p.m., containment had been raised to 60 percent, the fire's forward progress had been stopped and the evacuation warning had been lifted.

In a final update Tuesday evening, Marin County Fire tweeted that crews will remain on scene overnight with continued mop-up into Wednesday morning, with full containment of the fire expected late in the day.

• Cal Fire
• Marin County