Bay Area News Group
MARIPOSA COUNTY, Calif. — The pretrial release of the man suspected of starting the devastating Oak Fire has stirred up outrage in the Sierra Nevada community where 127 homes burned.
Edward Wackerman, 73, on Monday, Dec. 8, left the Mariposa County Jail with an ankle monitor. While awaiting trial, he will stay in his Midpines home.
“I don’t think it’s right,” Mariposa County Sheriff Jeremy Briese said in a Facebook Live video Monday in which he informed the community of the release.
Jail staffers testified at a hearing that day that Wackerman’s health had declined during his time in custody and that his medical needs could no longer be accommodated in the Mariposa jail. Briese said his staff was not granted time to make plans to move Wackerman to another facility.
Wackerman was in jail for 30 months, since his arrest in June 2023 on suspicion of starting the previous summer’s Oak Fire, which burned 19,244 acres near Yosemite National Park.
At the time of the arrest, the prosecutor said Wackerman — whom he identified as a former firefighter — set four intentional fires in the Midpines area, and the last, on July 21, 2022, became the Oak Fire.
A day after Monday’s announcement, Briese issued a statement addressing the community’s discontent over the release, emphasizing that it was not a case of the sheriff’s office simply being “unwilling or unable to provide care” for the inmate. “We followed every directive within our legal authority. We want to be clear: We fought to keep Mr. Wackerman in custody, but the final decision was issued by the court,” he said.
He concluded the statement with criticism of what he called outdated laws concerning pretrial custody.
“Bottom line: The Oak Fire was one of the most devastating events in Mariposa County’s history,” the sheriff said. “We should have been given adequate time to secure an agreed-upon placement facility. Mr. Wackerman should not have been released. The California Attorney General’s Office should have fought harder for our community. Would the Attorney General’s Office have the same opinion if this was the individual accused of starting the Palisades Fire?”
Jonathan Rinderknecht, accused of intentionally starting a smaller fire that became this year’s massive Palisades Fire in Los Angeles County, has been ordered to remain in custody while awaiting trial.
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