‘Monster’ accused of starting California wildfire made threat weeks ago.

The “monster” accused of setting a raging California fire that has destroyed more than 10,000 acres sent an ominous text message to a volunteer fire chief two weeks ago, vowing that the “place is going to burn,” according to officials. Forrest Gordon Clark is charged with arson and a slew of other counts for allegedly starting the so-called Holy Fire on Monday, which has scorched a swath of Cleveland National Forest.
The 51-year-old alleged firebug sent the chilling message to Mike Milligan, the chief of Holy Jim Volunteer Fire Department, who said he’s known about Clark for decades.“I’ve been trying for years to get someone to pay attention and nobody has really had the opportunity to do that until now,” Milligan told CNN. Milligan said he had a harrowing encounter with Clark two weeks ago when Clark stopped by his house to drop off items he said he’d “borrowed” from the fire department.“I said, ‘I want nothing to do with you, Forrest. Just go,’” Milligan recalled. “He was being gentlemanly in the beginning, and turned and then swore at me, and turned and left and was quoting the Bible. Later, he came back and told me what a jerk I was and everyone was after him.”Milligan then received a chilling text from an unknown number saying, “911 call sheriff.” The chief called back and recognized the voice as Clark’s.

 

Later, he said he received a text from Clark laced with expletives that concluded, “The place is going to burn just like you planned.”Clark, who lives in Holy Jim Canyon, is charged with aggravated arson damaging multiple structures, arson of inhabited property, arson of forest, making criminal threats, and resisting arrest. He is being held on $1 million at the Orange County Jail. He faces as much as life in prison. At a press conference, Orange County Supervisor Todd Spitzer called him a “monster.”“Who would go out with low humidity, high wind and the highest heat temperatures this time of the year and intentionally set the forest on fire?” Spitzer said USA Today reported. Fire officials said they connected Clark to the devastating blaze which has torn through Orange and Riverside counties through witness statements, physical evidence and burns patterns. Some 20,000 residents were forced to evacuate the Holy Jim area. The inferno, which has burned more than 10,236 acres as of Thursday night, is only 5 per cent contained. On Thursday, Clark refused to come out of his jail cell for arraignment, according to CBS 8.Clark has a troubling history. In 2012, his mother, Mary Masayo Clark, and brother Everett Clark sought restraining orders against him for threats he made.

Masayo Clark, who was 87 at the time, accused him of smashing potted plants at her home for refusing to give him $300.She said Clark “abuses me verbally by telling me that my daughters Louann and April are not my daughters because they are adopted. He tells me that they do not love me and do not come to visit. This is not true.”She dropped her temporary restraining order a few months later, while Everett Clark’s request was denied. Everett Clark said his brother had tossed his medication, which he needs to take twice a day. Parts of California have been destroyed by 15 wildfires that have erupted in the past few weeks. The Mendocino Complex Fire which has scorched more than 305,152 acres is the largest in state history.