{"id":31085,"date":"2026-08-07T12:54:38","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T07:54:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=31085"},"modified":"2026-08-07T12:54:38","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T07:54:38","slug":"man-arrested-in-gann-fire-said-he-needed-money-for-birthday-dinner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=31085","title":{"rendered":"Man arrested in Gann fire said he needed money for birthday dinner"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-element=\"story-body\" data-subscriber-content=\"\">\n<p>A Northern California man arrested on suspicion of causing a deadly fire that\u2019s grown to more than 10,000 acres reportedly said the blaze was unintended, and that he was just working to save money for a birthday dinner with his wife.<\/p>\n<p>Fire officials took 65-year-old Herbert Wayne Smith into custody on Monday around 7:45 p.m., according to arrest records. Detectives believe the Valley Springs handyman caused the Gann fire, which started earlier that day. <\/p>\n<p>The Gann fire is roughly 35 miles east of Stockton and entirely within Calaveras County. The blaze had grown to <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fire.ca.gov\/incidents\/2026\/8\/3\/gann-fire\" target=\"_blank\"><u>10,374 acres<\/u><\/a>, with 26% containment, as of Thursday afternoon.<\/p>\n<p>Seven structures have been destroyed in the fire, and a <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kcra.com\/article\/gann-fire-updates-arrest-calaveras-county-august-6\/73365645\" target=\"_blank\">body was reportedly recovered<\/a> from one of those burned buildings. Multiple areas have been evacuated. Roughly 2,715 firefighting personnel from more than 20 agencies statewide have responded, including several air tankers.<\/p>\n<p>Gann was booked before a body was discovered, and his charges are yet to be updated.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe investigation determined that Smith was responsible for recklessly causing the Gann Fire, which ignited on Aug. 3 \u2026 in a rural area southeast of New Hogan Lake,\u201d the Tuolumne-Calaveras Unit of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection posted <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CALFIRETCU\/posts\/san-andreas-ca-cal-fire-law-enforcement-officers-arrested-herbert-wayne-smith-65\/1063647552714951\/\" target=\"_blank\"><u>in a statement<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Smith was operating equipment, reportedly a <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/KCRA3\/posts\/a-man-who-was-arrested-near-where-the-gann-fire-started-in-calaveras-county-said\/1517068953793754\/\" target=\"_blank\">chainsaw<\/a>, that did not comply with fire prevention requirements and was capable of producing sparks, according to Cal Fire. Any individual who uses such equipment near wildlands must clear flammable vegetation around a specific work area and maintain firefighting tools.<\/p>\n<p>Investigators also said Smith was supposed to ensure the fire didn\u2019t escape and spread beyond the property where it originated.<\/p>\n<p>He was booked into a local jail for allegedly causing the fire of a structure, forest or land, according to arrest records.<\/p>\n<p>Cal Fire has sent the case to the Calaveras County district attorney\u2019s office for review.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m so sorry for everything that\u2019s happened,\u201d Smith told Sacramento NBC affiliate <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kcra.com\/article\/gann-fire-herbert-wayne-smith-arrested\/73358286\" target=\"_blank\"><u>KCRA on Thursday afternoon<\/u><\/a>. \u201cThat was never my intent. I was just out there trying to get some money together, and it turned into this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Smith told the station that Monday was his birthday and he was cutting scraps that day when the fire ignited, trying to earn a few dollars so he could take his wife out to dinner. <\/p>\n<p>This wasn\u2019t Smith\u2019s first brush with fire, however.<\/p>\n<p>He pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge in 2019 of burning lands that belonged to another and paid $600 in court fees while serving 36 months of probation, according to court records.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Northern California man arrested on suspicion of causing a deadly fire that\u2019s grown to more than 10,000 acres reportedly said the blaze was unintended, and that he was just working to save money for a birthday dinner with his wife. Fire officials took 65-year-old Herbert Wayne Smith into custody on Monday around 7:45 p.m.,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31086,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/5795ff2\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/5062x2658+0+359\/resize\/1200x630!\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F45%2Fe4%2Fd9f5634f4c3a8f3bddad34406b10%2Faptopix-western-wildfires-9-143.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31085"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31085\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/31086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}