Sonoma County Smoker Accused Of Starting Fire

SANTA ROSA, CA -- Officers arrested a suspect who allegedly started a fire in Santa Rosa by smoking a cigarette while using butane to manufacture hash oil Saturday afternoon, police said.

Eric Alexander Chait, who police described as homeless, was arrested and booked into the Sonoma County Jail on suspicion of manufacture of a controlled substance and unlawfully causing a structure fire, according
to police.

The case began when firefighters responded around 2 p.m. to a report of a structure fire in the vicinity of McMinn Avenue and Sebastopol Road, fire officials said.

The firefighters arrived to find flames shooting from a warehouse at a self-storage company at 555 Roseland Ave., according to fire officials.

Firefighters controlled the blaze within 25 minutes. The damage from smoke and flames to six destroyed storage lockers and the building in general is estimated at $200,000, fire officials said.

Chait was smoking a cigarette while allegedly manufacturing hash oil using the butane method, according to police. The cigarette fell to the ground and a fire started, police said.

--Bay City News Service/Photo via Shutterstock