Suspect Charged In California Wildfire Deaths

This handout photo released by the Riverside County Sheriff's Department shows Raymond Lee Oyler, who is a suspect in two arson fires set in the Banning Pass area near Banning, Calif., in June and is described by authorities as a "person of interest" in the recent Esperanza fire, which resulted in the deaths of five firefighters. (AP)

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 2 -- A man already in jail on suspicion of starting several small wildfires was charged Thursday with multiple counts of first-degree murder and arson for setting a blaze that killed five firefighters in Southern California.

Police and fire investigators have been working for months to find those responsible for starting at least 40 small fires this year in the Banning Pass area 90 miles east of Los Angeles, in the desert and mountains west of Palm Springs. They arrested a local man Tuesday on suspicion of starting two of those fires. Thursday, authorities said that same man will face five murder counts, 11 counts of arson and 10 counts of use of an incendiary device for setting the deadly Esperanza fire last week as well as 11 fires this summer. The charges could carry the death penalty.

Riverside County District Attorney-elect Rod Pacheco said his office has not decided whether to seek capital punishment for Raymond Lee Oyler, 36. "The lives and tragic deaths of the five-man fire crew, Engine 57, will be considered" in that decision, Pacheco said at a news conference, "and the impact of their deaths on their families, friends, loved ones and their children."

At his arraignment Thursday in Riverside County Superior Court, Oyler pleaded not guilty to all charges. He was jailed without bond.

Oyler, a car mechanic, was arrested at his mother's house in the small town of Beaumont, Calif., a day after police searched the home. In an interview with a local newspaper Thursday, he declared his innocence.

The firefighters' deaths horrified residents of Riverside County, where blazes fed by hot Santa Ana winds burn through wild desert scrub every year, but fatalities are rare. All five members of a U.S. Forest Service crew -- one of them with more than 20 years of experience -- were suddenly caught in a wall of flames as they tried to protect a remote canyon home. They were running for their engine when the fire overtook them.

The fire scorched more than 60 square miles and destroyed 34 houses before it was put out Monday. State and local officials had offered a $550,000 reward to find the person responsible and set up a tip line, which yielded hundreds of calls. Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and the U.S. attorney's office worked on the case with local investigators.

A public memorial service for the firefighters is scheduled for Monday at a 65,000-seat arena.

"The days have been consumed with grieving," said Jeanne Wade Evans, the San Bernardino National Forest supervisor, where the fallen firefighters were based. "This arrest really does help with some of the closure, the healing, that some of us in the Forest Service and their families need."