Land Owner Near the Shimmins Fire North of Willits Says She Found a Gas Can and a Neighbor Saw a Suspicious Vehicle

Flames and smoke from the Shimmins Fire crawl up a steep hillside.

Flames and smoke from the Shimmins Fire crawl up a steep hillside. [Photo by Whitney Snidow]

A series of fires started yesterday north of Willits and towards Covelo are likely arson, according to a resident who says she found a gas can in the fire near her home and a neighbor saw a vehicle that he believes was very similar to one seen at a series of suspicious fires on August 27 that included one near Bell Springs Road on Hwy 101 and two near Piercy.

According to a post last night by Whitney Snidow, a resident of Shimmins Ridge Road, “Some ASSHOLE in a reddish/burgundy 4 door SUV just threw a lit gas can out of his car on Shimmins Ridge Road!” Snidow told us later that she was coming home from her job as a nurse when she saw smoke. Soon after she saw a neighbor “throwing dirt on the fire with a cup.” Later, he left and came back with a shovel to fight the fire.

Snidow said she jumped in to help. “I had a 5 gallon bucket and I started scooping dirt,” she explained. She saw a tall plastic container that rural residents often use for carrying gas on fire. She began throwing dirt on it. “Doing this prevented the gas can from melting [completely],” she said. “I wanted to keep it as evidence [for the inspector.]”

Snidow said that she and the neighbor were right in the thick of the fire fighting it. “I had to stop it,” she said. “My house and chickens were close…[A] helicopter [dropped] a load of water on our heads!”

Her neighbor told her that he had seen a reddish/burgundy 4-door SUV leaving the area fast right before the fire. This, he told her was a similar description to that of the vehicle seen leaving a series of fires on Hwy 101 between Bell Springs Road and Piercy on August 27. 

There the vehicle was described as possibly a tan Iszuzu Trooper 4-door SUV.

Snidow said her neighbor believed the driver of the SUV seen yesterday was a man with short hair.

“We are aware of that report and it is part of [the] investigation,” said Tricia Austin, Public Information Officer for the Mendocino Cal Fire unit who explained that there were three fires yesterday north of Willits. Two were in Cal Fire’s area of responsibility and one was in Covelo Fire’s. She said that the report of the Shimmins Fire came in about 6:40 p.m. Soon after another fire was reported out Hwy 169 162, and then a third fire was reported in Covelo Fire’s response area.

The Shimmins Fire burned 10 acres and still has crews and equipment “reinforcing containment lines” though forward progress was stopped last night, she said. The second fire, the Rios Incident, reached one acre and is now out, she said.

The Covelo fire was small and quickly extinguished, according to scanner reports last night.

Austin said that the investigator would be interviewing witnesses but that she doesn’t know if the series of fires last night and on August 27 are connected nor could she confirm they were arson.

Neighbors threw gravel and dirt on a melting gas can.

Whitney Snidow said she threw gravel and dirt on a melting gas can at the scene of a fire yesterday. [Photo by Whitney Snidow]

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30 Comments
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Lil Plopper
Guest
Lil Plopper
5 years ago

Unbelievable. This fool has got to go.

Steve
Guest
Steve
5 years ago
Reply to  Lil Plopper

None of that bullshit happens here…so glad we left!

Anti troll league
Guest
Anti troll league
5 years ago
Reply to  Steve

What an unnecessary mean spirited remark. The natural response is to say that we’re glad you left too.

Wait! tell us more!
Guest
Wait! tell us more!
5 years ago
Reply to  Steve

where? Missouri?Wait! you have to say where this is, your arson free zone! Why does your new community have no arson? Are you all just more virtuous? Do you all just confound their arsonist tendencies with summer rain, or simply the appropriate amount of prayer? Is there any animal sacrifice involved?

local observer
Guest
local observer
5 years ago
Reply to  Steve

tell me where “here” is and I will tell you all about the bullshit going on. unless it is New Zealand.

You
Guest
You
5 years ago
Reply to  local observer

New Zealand has a really high poverty rate.

ok
Guest
ok
5 years ago

so what’s the punishment if a guy were to have started these fires? it’s safe to say they could become the next Carr fire or something so would the punishment be same as if they did become huge? Is this guy going to go to prison if caught or booked and released?

The Mail Lady
Guest
The Mail Lady
5 years ago
Reply to  ok

It depends:

This deadly fire resulted in six months in a halfway house and community service,
http://articles.latimes.com/2005/nov/18/local/me-cedar18

This one, the Esperanza Fire in Cabezon, Calif., resulted in a death sentence. https://www.usfa.fema.gov/prevention/outreach/wildfire_arson/court_cases.html

No Joke
Guest
No Joke
5 years ago
Reply to  The Mail Lady

the first was accidental, a lost hunter trying to signal for help.

the link contains quite a few doozies, including this one in Minnesota:

“The accused man was arrested that evening while fighting the fire he had set earlier. Due to past convictions of theft, felony check forgery, and issuing a bomb threat, the suspect failed a routine background check when he applied to the fire department, but the local mayor allowed him to be hired.”

Flatgirl
Guest
Flatgirl
5 years ago
Reply to  ok

I know a man who served 8 years in prison for starting a wildland fire near Ft. Seward about 40 years ago. Laws change….

Mobius Dancer
Guest
Mobius Dancer
5 years ago

The numbwitted brat who started the Gorge Fire last year – tossing firecrackers into the Gorge! – and his parents are responsible for about $15 million in fines and damages. He was 15 or 16 at the time.
An Adult?
I hesitate to start in on what to do to adults who deliberately start fires.
Too many know-it-all bleeding hearts might take exception to my suggestions…

UnCommonSense
Guest
UnCommonSense
5 years ago
Reply to  Mobius Dancer

Most of us “bleeding hearts” are also tree huggers. [edit]

Sandra L Dunlea
Guest
Sandra L Dunlea
5 years ago
Reply to  Mobius Dancer

I SO agree, Mobius Dancer. I am a retired Fire Captain with CDF (California Dept. of Forestry) NOW, called Cal Fire. I have been on MANY of these large campaign fires with my crew. The destruction of human, wildlife and wildland life is beyond tragic. Stronger laws need to be enacted in dealing with arsonists. [edit] My thoughts, heart and prayers are with you folks in regards to these fires. Some detective or arson investigator will sit down and run the vins and license on the maroon SUV. He’ll be FOUND!!!! The BEST of heartfelt luck to all of you.

Guest
Guest
Guest
5 years ago

Thanks to all those who kept their wits about them and took action.

Guest
Guest
Guest
5 years ago
Reply to  Guest

Oh. And I going to add a trench shovel to the stuff I cart around in the truck. I know I have one somewhere.

DELLIB
Guest
DELLIB
5 years ago

Maybe its calfire trying to get more federal funds…

Just sayin...
Guest
Just sayin...
5 years ago
Reply to  DELLIB

you’ve got to be kidding me

That sauce
Guest
That sauce
5 years ago

Really guys? Not a single comment addressing the somewhat tweeky sounding story of the neighbor using cups full of dirt to attempt to extinguish the fire?

Baked bean
Guest
Baked bean
5 years ago
Reply to  That sauce

Right. I was thinking the same thing. And he was quick to give the same description of the suspect Of the previous fires.

Anti troll league
Guest
Anti troll league
5 years ago
Reply to  That sauce

If people are accused of every possible bad thing someone randomly thinks, then small wonder that some witnesses are reluctant to say anything. Let the investigators sort it out.

He's never been on a fire
Guest
He's never been on a fire
5 years ago
Reply to  That sauce

Man, if a fires about to burn your shit, throw dirt with whatever you got. Did you expect for her to have a dozer sitting there ready to go? Why didn’t she fire up the ‘copter, instead of reaching for the BUCKET of dirt. After that comment, you are going to have to carry two fire extinguishers, or something non “tweeky” to put fires out for the rest of your life.

Jim Snidow
Guest
Jim Snidow
5 years ago
Reply to  That sauce

Hmmm I guess when the arsonist comes to burn your property you will be able to put it out with the bullshit that comes out of your mouth. Good luck with that. You don’t know the people that gave a flying fuck enough on the way home from work to stop and use whatever they had to try to put out a fire that endangered this whole area and their homes. I’d have been less angry if someone had stupidly tossed out their cigarette and caught the hill on fire than realizing it was no accident with a gas can right there. Someone did this not an accident and I’m sure the neighbor had time to go start the other fires while he was fighting the flames

Shawn Cherry
Guest
Shawn Cherry
5 years ago

Take the report for what it is. A reminder to prepare for wildfire and keep your eyes open to strange happenings in your neighborhood.[edit] Trust me!! A shovel and a Mccloud don’t take up much room in a pickup bed and are very effective.

Mendocino Mamma
Guest
Mendocino Mamma
5 years ago
Reply to  Shawn Cherry

Agreed! Add a ABC fire extinguisher too!

James Marmon MSW
Guest
James Marmon MSW
5 years ago

I’ve known Whitney for almost 25 years, she is not a tweaker, she is a Registered Nurse for Mendocino County Public Health. She lives just above this fire and could have lost everything is she didn’t react the way she did. Dirt or sand are great alternatives to water if you don’t have it.

James Marmon MSW
Former Social Worker V
Mendocino Family and Children’s Services.

Kelly Viss
Guest
Kelly Viss
5 years ago

What he said! ^^ Her actions very likely saved my home. Very grateful.

Critter
Guest
Critter
5 years ago

If we’re dealing with the same creep who set Bell Springs and Piercy fires last week…. I hope authorities realize that there are not all that many Isuzus on the road. Can’t a database narrow the field so we can stop this guy?