Two convicted for arson on that day, but not at Ashland origin point of wind-driven conflagration

By Kevin Opsahl, Rogue Valley Times

Nearly three years after the Almeda Fire struck on Sept. 8, 2020, Ashland police Chief Tighe O’Meara still remembers glancing into his department’s briefing room the day following the blaze and seeing 30 to 45 police detectives from numerous local agencies “crammed” together, all hard at work.

The activity in that room was just the tip of the iceberg in terms of law enforcement’s investigative response following the fire that, according to officials, destroyed 2,428 homes and 173 businesses, and claimed three lives.

To date, the investigation has involved 29 investigators who have lodged nine search warrants and interviewed 154 people spanning eight counties in four different states.

The most significant outcome of the investigation came a little more than a month after the fire, when Ashland Fire & Rescue, in consultation with the Oregon State Police Arson Unit and the State Fire Marshal’s Office, determined it was “of human origin.”

O’Meara announced Oct. 29, 2020, the start of a criminal investigation. The FBI was brought in to provide a possible profile of who might have been responsible for the fire.

But to this day, whether the fire was set intentionally or recklessly is an unanswered question.

“We collectively have worked every bit of information that we could find,” O’Meara said in an interview Tuesday. “We remain ready to be responsive to any new information that comes in, but unfortunately there’s not that one thing that lets us definitely wrap this up and close out the criminal investigation.”

The Ashland police chief called the lack of developments “frustrating,” but it’s not for lack of professional expertise or staffing.

“It’s for a lack of definitive information,” O’Meara said.

Officials know the fire started in a dry field along Almeda Street in Ashland at 11:04 a.m., but O’Meara said Tuesday that this aspect of the fire has already been investigated.

“It didn’t produce anything that I can talk about or brings us to resolution,” he said.

O’Meara said all relevant investigating agencies sat down in the run-up to the Almeda Fire’s second anniversary and “made sure that we had advanced the case as much as we could.” A press release was then coordinated updating the public with the latest in the investigation.

“Since that, I’m not aware that any significant or noteworthy advances or leads have come to light,” he said.

O’Meara said law enforcement is currently “being responsive and reactive to any information that is brought to us.”

“It’s not a closed case; it’s not a cold case,” O’Meara said. “There simply isn’t day-to-day, week-to-week or month-to-month stuff for the detectives to work on to move it forward. Until something comes along that gives the detectives something more to look into, there isn’t anything else to look into.”

O’Meara renewed his call for the public to help.

“The Ashland Police Department … as well as … all partner agencies remain available to look into any additional information that comes in,” O’Meara said. “If anybody has any new information, please get in touch with us so we can try to move forward.”

Anyone who has information about the cause of the Almeda Fire should call APD Detective Lindsey Rochon-Evertt at 541-482-5211.

Two jailed for arson

Choosing to forgo trials, two Jackson County men were sentenced to prison time in 2022 for starting fires on the day of the Almeda Fire.

Michael Jarrod Bakkela, 44, pleaded no contest to 16 counts of first-degree criminal mischief, two counts of first-degree animal abuse and one count of first-degree arson on May 4, 2022, and was sentenced in Jackson County Circuit Court to 11 years in prison. 

Vance Phuc Nguyen, 48, pleaded guilty to first-degree arson on Jan. 12, 2022, and was sentenced in Jackson County Circuit Court to four years in prison.

Nguyen set his truck ablaze around 12:24 p.m. near Emigrant Lake. A fire crew from Greensprings Rural Fire District diverted from helping fight the Almeda Fire and extinguished the blaze Nguyen had set, according to a news release from the Jackson County District Attorney’s Office.

In conversations with law enforcement, Nguyen admitted he used gasoline to light fire to his truck, which was approximately 220 yards from nearby homes, the release said. Firefighters were able to stop the blaze from spreading to the homes.

Bakkela was spotted on Dano Way in Phoenix around 4:30 p.m., when he used his truck and a chain to pull open a locked railroad gate, according to the District Attorney’s Office. Bakkela attempted to drive down the railroad tracks, but the truck stalled and slid into tall grass. 

Around 5 p.m., a woman hosing down her backyard in the 1000 block of Quail Lane noticed Bakkela kneel down a few feet from his truck and she saw smoke become visible. The woman’s husband rushed to the scene and held Bakkela at gunpoint until law enforcement arrived.

The fire Bakkela set resulted in 14 destroyed or damaged homes off of Hoyt Lane, West Glenwood and Voorhies roads, and destroyed or damaged several businesses, including Rogue Soil and Northwest Hemp Growers Industrial Hemp Farm, according to the District Attorney’s Office. Two animals were also killed. 

Bakkela claimed at the time that he was trying to put gas in his engine when he said he noticed flames under the truck’s hood. Law enforcement later searched Bakkela’s backpack and found numerous items, including a flare, butane and a bottle of 2-cycle oil.

Oregon State Police investigated Bakkela’s case and determined his fire was “intentionally set” about 15 feet north of the truck and was driven to the northwest by the wind.

The District Attorney’s Office noted at the time of Bakkela’s sentencing that the man’s actions were not known to have caused the Almeda Fire that began in Ashland.

Bakkela’s earliest release date from prison is Aug. 6, 2029, according to information from the Oregon Department of Corrections.

Nguyen’s earliest possible release date is Dec. 4, 2023.

Reporter Kevin Opsahl can be reached at 458-488-2034 or [email protected]. This story first appeared in the Rogue Valley Times.