Fire Officer Is Accused of Setting Blaze

A federal fire prevention officer was arrested for investigation of setting a 100-acre brush fire and is under investigation in connection with 37 other wildfires, officials said Friday.

Patrick Michael Cooney, 23, of San Luis Obispo was booked on a felony arson count Thursday in connection with a blaze that burned Tuesday and Wednesday, U.S. Forest Service spokesman Earl Clayton said.

Cooney, who had worked in the Los Padres National Forest as an assistant Forest Service fire prevention officer, was released Thursday night from San Luis Obispo County Jail on $5,000 bail.

The Forest Service is investigating Cooney in connection with five other fires set in San Luis Obispo County since July. The California Department of Forestry is checking to see if he was involved in any of the 32 blazes set in its jurisdiction in the county since May 21, officials said.

About 6,000 acres were blackened in the five fires under the federal agency’s jurisdiction, Clayton said.

Sixty acres burned in the blazes under state jurisdiction. There were no injuries resulting from the fires, said Dick Caddy, a battalion chief with the California Department of Forestry.