LOS ANGELES — A 31-year-old man has been found guilty of igniting a 2020 wildfire in Big Sur that killed 12 endangered California condors, seriously injured a firefighter and destroyed multiple homes, prosecutors announced this week.
Ivan Gomez was convicted Thursday of 16 felony counts, including arson for sparking the 125,000-acre Dolan fire in the Los Padres National Forest; cruelty to animals for killing multiple condors; and cultivating marijuana and throwing rocks at vehicles, according to Monterey County District Attorney Jeannine Pacioni.
The blaze erupted on the evening of Aug. 18, 2020. California State Parks and Recreation officers first spotted flames cresting a ridgeline in the forest known as the “top of the world,” the D.A.'s office said. Around the same time, officers received reports of a man throwing rocks at vehicles on Highway 1 and the Lime Creek Bridge.