{"id":203808,"date":"2026-08-05T17:39:04","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T00:39:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/?p=203808"},"modified":"2026-08-05T17:39:04","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T00:39:04","slug":"valley-springs-man-arrested-for-starting-now-10000-acre-gann-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/?p=203808","title":{"rendered":"Valley Springs Man Arrested for Starting Now 10,000 Acre Gann Fire"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>San Andreas, CA&#8230;CAL FIRE Law Enforcement Officers arrested Herbert Wayne Smith, 65, of Valley Springs, on Monday, August 3, 2026, following an origin and cause investigation into the Gann Fire in Calaveras County.  The investigation determined that Smith was responsible for recklessly causing the Gann Fire, which ignited on August 3, 2026, in a rural area southeast of New Hogan Lake. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/0001_calfire.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/0001_calfire.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-203801\" srcset=\"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/0001_calfire.png 300w, https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/0001_calfire-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/0001_calfire-30x30.png 30w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The fire has burned approximately 9,363 acres, currently is at 10% containment and remains in active status.Smith was arrested for California Penal Code \u00a7 452(c) \u2013 Recklessly Causing a Fire.The investigation revealed Smith was operating equipment capable of producing sparks in vegetation without complying with the fire prevention requirements of California Public Resources Code \u00a7 4427, which requires individuals using spark-producing equipment near wildland to clear flammable vegetation around the work area and maintain required firefighting tools. <\/p>\n<p>The investigation also found violations of Public Resources Code \u00a7 4422(b), which prohibits allowing a fire to escape from a person\u2019s control and spread beyond the property where it originated.  The case has been submitted to the Calaveras County District Attorney\u2019s Office for review and prosecution. <\/p>\n<p>The arrest and investigation were conducted by CAL FIRE\u2019s Tuolumne-Calaveras Unit Law Enforcement Officers with assistance from the Calaveras County Sheriff\u2019s Office.  <\/p>\n<p>CAL FIRE reminds the public to remain vigilant and immediately report suspicious activity related to wildfires. If you observe suspicious persons, vehicles, or activities before, during, or after a fire, safely document as much information as possible, including photographs, video recordings, vehicle descriptions, and license plate numbers when feasible.<\/p>\n<p>Anyone with information regarding the cause of a wildfire is encouraged to contact the CAL FIRE Arson Hotline at (800) 468-4408. Callers may remain anonymous.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>San Andreas, CA&#8230;CAL FIRE Law Enforcement Officers arrested Herbert Wayne Smith, 65, of Valley Springs, on Monday, August 3, 2026, following an origin and cause investigation into the Gann Fire in Calaveras County. The investigation determined that Smith was responsible for recklessly causing the Gann Fire, which ignited on August 3, 2026, in a rural [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":203801,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,16,1,13,31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-203808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-law-enforcement","category-news","category-traffic-fire","category-valley-springs","last_archivepost"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/0001_calfire.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=203808"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203808\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":203809,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203808\/revisions\/203809"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/203801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=203808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=203808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=203808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}