Neighbors say
the man accused of setting California’s Holy fire was known troublemaker.
LOS ANGELES — Mike Milligan had poor reception in the Holy Jim canyons and foothills when his phone buzzed with a confusing text message: “911 call sheriff.”
The sender was a longtime Trabuco Canyon resident named Forrest Gordon Clark, an eccentric figure well-known in the tight-knit community as a troublemaker with a temper who had long clashed with his family and neighbors.
Concerned, the chief of the Holy Jim Volunteer Fire Department dialed Clark’s number, but the call failed.
Moments later, Milligan said, another text from Clark came through: “It’s all going to burn like you planned.”
Nearly three weeks later, Clark, 51, was taken into custody on a charge of arson, accused of setting the blaze now known as the Holy Fire.
The wildfire erupted Aug. 6 in Holy Jim Canyon, tearing through more than 22,000 acres of bone-dry chaparral and brush in the Cleveland National Forest that hadn’t burned in decades. Thousands of residents and campers had to flee for their lives, while more than 1,000 firefighters mounted an aggressive attack against the blaze. At least a dozen cabins were reduced to rubble.
Authorities quickly concluded that the fire was an act of arson. Flames spread so rapidly and intensely — fed by what Milligan called a substantial accelerant — that fire crews were forced to initially retreat, unable to save a handful of cabins near where it ignited.
Then, about a half-mile away, the cabin of a neighbor with whom Clark had long feuded caught fire, Milligan said. There was no wind, Milligan said, so it couldn’t have been a flying ember.
“It’s fairly obvious how things evolved,” Milligan said.
Milligan said that Clark, a devout Christian, would berate his neighbor because their religious views were at odds. Sometimes, Clark stood outside the neighbor’s cabin quoting Bible verses. The neighbor, Milligan said, would argue back, or run his generator at night to irritate Clark. At one point, Milligan said, the neighbor accused Clark of cutting his water line.
Court records and interviews with Clark’s neighbors revealed years of unsettling behavior that earned the 51-year-old man a reputation as aggressive and moody. He was the “weird guy with the long hair who would chase you” if you didn’t steer clear, said Trabuco Canyon resident Gage Wegner.
“They got to lock him up for life,” said David Snyder, a regular at the Trabuco General Store, a popular pit stop among visitors.
Carrie Braun, spokeswoman with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, said deputies have dealt with Clark since 2006, when neighbors reported theft and vandalism incidents that they suspected were linked to him. She said deputies never linked him to the crimes.
More recently, Braun said, sheriff ’s deputies were called to Forrest Clark’s cabin July 23 in response to a report that he was acting erratically. They placed him on a psychiatric hold after determining he was a danger to himself or others, she said.
Before he was arrested, Clark granted an interview to a journalist from the video news service OnScene TV, saying he had no idea how the fire started.
When deputies confronted Clark on Tuesday, he stripped off his camouflage shorts so that he was naked, said Braun, the Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman.
He faces six felony charges, including aggravated arson, arson of an inhabited property and criminal threats. Authorities have not said why or how they believe Clark set the fire.
At his first court appearance in Santa Ana on Friday, Clark had several outbursts, calling the charges against him a lie. His arraignment was postponed until this Friday.