Man convicted in Big Sur blaze that killed 12 condors
A 31-year-old man was found guilty of igniting a 2020 wildfire in Big Sur that killed 12 endangered California condors, seriously injured a firefighter and destroyed multiple homes, prosecutors said.
Ivan Gomez was convicted Thursday of 16 felony counts, including arson for sparking the 125,000-acre Dolan fire in the Los Padres National Forest; cruelty to animals for killing multiple condors; and cultivating marijuana and throwing rocks at vehicles, according to Monterey County Dist. Atty. Jeannine Pacioni.
The blaze erupted on the evening of Aug. 18, 2020. California State Parks and Recreation officers first spotted f lames cresting a ridgeline in the forest known as the “top of the world,” the district attorney’s office said. About the same time, officers received reports of a man throwing rocks at vehicles on Highway 1 and the Lime Creek Bridge.
Officers found the man — later identified as Gomez — shirtless, sweating and carrying multiple lighters, prosecutors said.
He told officers he had started the fire at an illegal marijuana grow on the other side of the ridge. He also told them he had killed five men, though no evidence of homicides was ever found.
An investigation by the U.S. Forest Service concluded that the wildfire originated at the marijuana grow site, prosecutors said, noting that Gomez “correctly identified the area of origin.”
Firefighters testified that no other individuals were found in the area and that Gomez would have had ample time to start the fire and make it to the Lime Creek area where he was confronted by officers.
Gomez admitted numerous times to starting the fire during a three-hour interview with detectives from the Monterey County Sheriff’s Department, prosecutors said.
2020 was the worst wildfire season ever recorded in California, with more than 4 million acres burned, and the Dolan fire proved immensely dangerous as it seared through dried brush and grass. The fire was not fully contained until Dec. 31, more than four months after it started.
Fourteen firefighters were nearly overrun while battling the blaze and had to deploy a cocoon shelter, a last resort to protect themselves from the heat, according to an incident report from the Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center.
One firefighter said the heat was so stifling that “I felt like all the fluid was being roasted out of me.” Another firefighter who couldn’t get his fire shelter out of a burning truck said a colleague pulled him into her deployed shelter, saving his life.
A fire captain was severely injured during the incident, and three firefighters were hospitalized with burns and smoke inhalation, officials said.
The fire claimed the lives of a dozen California condors when it burned through an 80-acre sanctuary in Big Sur operated by the Ventana Wildlife Society. The California condor is the largest North American land bird and is considered critically endangered. According to the National Park Service, there are only about 500 of the birds in the world.
Gomez faces a maximum sentence of 24 years in prison.