California fire agency employee charged with arson spent months as inmate firefighter

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Public records show a California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection employee charged with starting five brush fires spent months as an inmate firefighter after being convicted of causing a fatal collision. Thirty-eight-year-old Robert Hernandez was arrested last week on suspicion of arson to forest land. Court records reveal he was convicted of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, stemming from a 2016 crash. He received a six-year prison sentence but in 2018 was granted participation in a rehabilitation program that lets incarcerated people join fire camps across the state. Cal Fire said last week that Hernandez ignited the five blazes while off duty in August and September.