The Santa Rosa community was on high alert last week as several small brush fires threatened areas close to Meadow View Elementary School. The blazes, initially considered disparate incidents, were later determined to be the work of a single arsonist, who has now been apprehended thanks to the collaborative efforts of the Santa Rosa Fire Department (SRFD) and Santa Rosa Police Department (SRPD), according to a statement on the police department's Facebook page.
Four fires were deliberately set near Southwest Community Park and the school last Monday to Friday. The SRFD and SRPD were already on high alert due to the close timing and proximity of these fires, which fortunately resulted in no structural damage or injuries. A fire began on the school's grounds but was quickly extinguished last Friday. During this incident, an SRFD inspector noticed a "suspicious man" in the area, who fled before he could be approached, as the police department reported.
Following the suspicious activity detected by the fire department, Santa Rosa detectives established surveillance on the suspect's vehicle, located at a hotel on Corby Avenue. During the firefighting efforts, students and staff were briefly placed under shelter-in-place orders, lifted once air quality was deemed safe.
The subsequent investigation led detectives to serve a search warrant on the hotel room of James Conforti, a 61-year-old Santa Rosa resident. Inside, they found clothing that matched witness descriptions and digital evidence linking Conforti to the fires. In addition to evidence related to the arson, several lighters were also found, the Santa Rosa Police indicated.
Upon the conclusion of the detectives' interview, Conforti was booked into the Sonoma County Jail on four counts of arson and for an outstanding misdemeanor warrant related to a hit-and-run. His bail was set at $150,000 after a court enhancement.
