Accused Oak Fire Arsonist Update
Mariposa County, CA – After detailing during a Tuesday press conference that the alleged arsonist of the Oak Fire was a former firefighter, the Mariposa County District Attorney stated that additional details would be released today.
That new information from the D.A.’s office reports that 71-year-old Edward Frederick Wackerman was in court Tuesday afternoon, and the court-appointed Defense Attorney Ric Squaglia to the case.
“Wackerman is being held on a no-bail detention order after being connected to the ignition of a series of fires last summer,” added the D.A.’s office.
Wackerman will return to court on Thursday, September 14, 2023, at 10:30 a.m. in the Mariposa County Superior Courthouse for his continued arraignment. He was arrested on Friday, June 16, after what CAL Fire and law enforcement officials called “an extensive investigation identified him as the suspect responsible for igniting the Oak fire in July of 2022.”
At yesterday’s press conference, the exact motive and how he started the Oak Fire were not disclosed, but the D.A. did divulge that Wackerman had actually started three other fires near Carstens Road in the days leading up to the destructive fire near Midpines on July 21 that burned over 19,000 acres and destroyed or damaged nearly 200 structures, as earlier reported here.
