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Suspected arsonist: Patrick Brennan
Suspected arsonist is arrested in connection with area fires
Sunnyvale man was tracked for weeks
By Jeff Kearns
A Sunnyvale man with a history of arson was arrested last week in connection with a string of fires he allegedly set in the hills above Los Gatos, Cupertino and San Jose.
Patrick Brennan, 33, was arrested July 28 by peace officers from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection who had been following him for several days.
Brennan admitted to setting some of the fires, and a search of his house and car turned up two lighters. He later walked arson investigators through some of the areas he allegedly burned, before he was taken to Santa Clara County jail. He will be charged by the District Attorney's office once investigators complete a series of interviews. He faces 16 counts of felony arson.
Brennan worked at a San Jose car wash and officials described him as a family man who frequented area county parks.
He is suspected of starting 16 fires, mostly in county parks, between May 10 and July 6. CDF says that the fires in Lexington Reservoir, Almaden Quicksilver and Stevens Creek county parks and other open space areas were intentionally set.
CDF officials said they received tips on the case from Campbell Police, the San Jose Fire Department and anonymous tipsters, but that the break in the case came from Campbell Police, who had a file on Brennan.
Brennan used to live in Campbell and was registered there as an arsonist after a misdemeanor conviction for setting fires in Grand Canyon National Park about five years ago. Brennan also worked at the park.
CDF Santa Clara Ranger Unit Chief Steve Woodill said the fires were "hot starts," or fires set with a match or lighter that was taken from the scene. Investigators didn't find any incendiary devices at the scenes of the fires.
CDF Battalion Chief Rod Pedersen, an arson specialist who was brought in from the Sonoma-Lake-Napa Ranger Unit to help with the investigation, says investigators have not established a motive yet.
About 15 CDF officials investigated the case along with officials from 15 additional local, state and federal agencies. CDF officers watched Brennan for about 10 days before making the arrest.
Woodill said the suspect was identified from different sources, including tips generated by a composite sketch made from a description of a man seen leaving the scene of one fire.
The largest of the fires was contained to about a quarter acre, but the potential for a much larger fire was definitely there. Woodill said that the cost of suppressing the fires came to about $75,000, while the investigation itself cost another $70,000. "Arson is a very difficult crime to prove and identify the parties responsible," he said.
Between May 10 and July 6, CDF crews responded to 16 fires along hiking trails in county parks and open space preserves in the area.
The first incident was a set of three fires that cropped up May 16 in Stevens Creek County Park above Cupertino and Saratoga, followed by several other fires in that park, four of which were set June 6.
Firefighters then responded to a fire about two miles south of downtown Los Gatos on the morning of June 15 on a hiking trail just up the hill from the boat launching area in Lexington Reservoir County Park. Another fire on June 30 scorched the hills alongside a hiking trail near Hicks Road outside of the Los Gatos town limits.
Four other fires, including the most recent on July 6, cropped up south of San Jose in and around Almaden Quicksilver County Park.
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Saratoga, California Since 1955
