LOS ANGELES — A man who was convicted of setting a wildfire in Big Sur that burned 125,000 acres, seriously injured a firefighter and killed 12 endangered California condors was sentenced this week to 24 years in state prison.
Ivan Gomez, 31, who was sentenced Wednesday, was found guilty last month of setting the 2020 Dolan fire, cultivating marijuana in the Los Padres National Forest and 12 counts of animal cruelty tied to the condor deaths, according to the Monterey County district attorney's office.
The fire destroyed a number of homes and injured several firefighters, including one seriously, authorities said. A dozen condors perished in the fire and their nesting grounds were burned.