Investigators have said firefighters battling the Dixie Fire could have had it much worse if a man was successful trying to start additional fires around that area.
Gary Maynard, 47, has been linked to a number of fires and has now been formally charged with arson in connection with the Ranch Fire, just behind the Dixie Fire lines.
Maynard is being charged in federal court, accused of setting the Ranch Fire in Lassen National Forest.
According to investigators the fire could have endangered firefighters working tirelessly to get control of the Dixie fire. Personnel would have been trapped between two blazes.
More evidence has been found and Maynard may be charged with setting more fires.
"They’re going to try to put a map up to say this is somebody who had a goal, and the goal was to set a lot of fires hoping there’d be just one big one," said criminal defense attorney Mark Reichel.
Investigators were able to get warrants for Maynard’s phone, and put a tracker on his car, which put him at the scene of two additional blazes, the Moon and Conard Fires.
Both were set in the first week of August. He has yet to be charged for either.
Maynard taught in the sociology department at Santa Clara University up until last year, and previously taught at Sonoma State University as well.
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