61-year-old arrested in connection with suspected Arson Fires

A 61-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of starting a series of brush fires in quick succession this week in southwest Santa Rosa, police said.

James Conforti of Santa Rosa was arrested Friday night by police who zeroed in on him after he was spotted in the vicinity of a fire that was ignited about 1 pm the same day on an elementary school campus, said Santa Rosa Police Sgt. Patti Seffens in a news release.

The Friday fire, behind Meadow View Elementary School, on Dutton Meadow, was the fourth in five days. It burned about a quarter of an acre before being put out. The blaze posed no immediate threat to students and staff, who had to shelter in place due to the presence of smoke.

The other three fires — on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday — all were sparked in different areas of nearby Southwest Community Park, which fronts on Hearn Avenue. Combined, the three fires burned just under one acre, according to the Santa Rosa Fire Department. No injuries were reported as a result of the fires.

Having identified the fires, which rattled the neighborhood, as suspicious in nature, firefighters were keeping an expanded presence in the neighborhood, said Seffens.

As firefighters were extinguishing Friday's fire, a Santa Rosa fire inspector noticed a suspicious man in the area, Seffens said. The inspector tried to contact the man, who “left abruptly” in his vehicle, she said.

Property Crimes detectives took over the investigation, Seffens said, and soon located the suspect's vehicle in the parking lot of the Extended Stay America hotel on Corby Avenue, a few blocks west of the school, and began surveillance.

After identifying Conforti as a suspect, detectives obtained a search warrant for his room, which they served at about 9:50 pm, Seffens said. The search turned up clothing matching witness descriptions, digital evidence on his cellphone of Conforti's location at the time of the fires, and several lighters, she said.

During a subsequent interview at police headquarters, detectives concluded that Conforti was responsible for each of the four fires, Seffens said. He was arrested on suspicion of four counts of Arson, and an outstanding warrant related to a hit-and-run misdemeanor in Santa Clara County.

As of Saturday afternoon, Conforti was being held at Sonoma County jail with $150,000 bail.

A Cal Fire employee was arrested Friday morning on suspicion of igniting a string of fires near Geyserville, Healdsburg and Windsor.

You can reach Staff Writer Jeremy Hay at 707-387-2960 or [email protected]. On X (Twitter) @jeremyhay