California state firefighter charged with setting at least five Sonoma County fires

Robert Hernandez, a firefighter with the California state firefighting agency, was arrested Friday. He is accused of being behind at least five major fires that ravaged several acres of Sonoma County.

The 38-year-old man is a employee of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. He is accused of igniting the fires that threatened the towns of Geyserville and Healdsburg this summer.

Hernandez, a resident of Healdsburg, was booked into the Sonoma County Adult Detention Center following his arrest. On the days he allegedly acted to set the land on fire, he was off duty. He now faces six felony charges. A Californian court placed a $2 million bond on him.

After learning of the arrest of an employee of the state agency, Joe Tyler, head of California firefighters offered a statement collected by the The New York Times in which he said he was "appalled" to "learn that one of our employees would violate the public trust and attempt to tarnish the tireless work of the 12,000 women and men of Cal Fire."

The motives that led Hernandez to set the fires in Sonoma County are still unknown. The area, north of the San Francisco Bay Area, is known for its agricultural production.