Three wildfires in Spokane County, Washington, have destroyed 700 structures, most of which are houses. The fires have displaced some 65,000 residents as they have burned over 8,000 acres. Firefighters are reportedly working 16-hour shifts to combat the blazes.

And it has virtually nothing to do with Earth’s climate.

Democrat Washington Governor Bob Ferguson called the fires a “nightmare situation,” adding, “This is likely the worst natural disaster in Spokane history.” The National Guard has been called in to help firefighters, while President Donald Trump approved an emergency declaration allowing FEMA to provide disaster assistance.

Over the weekend, Washington’s former Democrat Governor Jay Inslee posted a video on social media in which he blamed the Left’s favorite culprit for natural disasters. “Climate change isn’t some faraway threat,” Inslee asserted. “It’s happening right now, to our neighbors and friends. We have to fight for them.”

Well, at least one of the wildfires — the largest one, dubbed the Old Trail Fire, which has consumed more than 3,600 acres — appears to be the result of arson.

A man was seen engaged in suspicious activity just before the blaze. The police questioned and arrested 37-year-old Aaron F. Farinacci, who reportedly had waterproof matches and a butane lighter.

Farinacci is currently being held on a $1 million bond.

Unsurprisingly, it turns out that Farinacci has a criminal record. Back in 2010, Farinacci, then a resident of Mesa, Arizona, shot and killed his father following a dispute over washing the dishes. After shooting his father, Farinacci shot himself in the chest in a failed suicide attempt.

Farinacci eventually pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of manslaughter and, due to a defense tied to mental issues, he was given just a 10-year prison sentence. He was released from prison in January 2024 and, sometime thereafter, moved to Spokane.

While Inslee broadly blames human activity that may be contributing to the changing climate, which is neither criminal nor nefarious, the primary culprit for at least one of the fires is both human and criminal. Furthermore, Spokane County Prosecuting Attorney Preston McCollam noted that Farinacci had been suspected of and questioned about “arson-related behavior” in the past.

Like the devastating Palisades Fire in Los Angeles, California, a year and a half ago, which the city’s Democrat leaders also blamed on climate change, the real culprit was an arsonist. The same was true of more than one wildfire in the Southeast in 2016, and many others besides. Never mind arson; the vast majority of wildfires are human-caused, whether by neglected campfires, vehicle fires, smoking, and so on.

In other words, governing authorities too often shirk an issue they actually can be responsible for — enforcing the law and prosecuting criminals. And when disasters invariably occur because of failures to hold criminals liable, they too often blame uncontrollable factors like climate change.

No amount of government-enacted onerous climate policies will control the weather. But they do deflect blame from political leaders’ failure. And at a high cost to the citizenry that, in some instances, like in the case of this arson-caused Old Trail Fire, could have been avoided.

Doubly unfortunately for the residents and authorities in Spokane, Farinacci was a failure on Arizona’s end.