SANTA CRUZ COUNTY — The man who investigators believe started the Bear Fire that burned nearly 400 acres in the Santa Cruz Mountains — destroying two homes and injuring over a dozen firefighters — was already in jail on suspicion of looting a home evacuated for the fire, authorities announced Friday.

Marlon Dale Coy, 54, of Boulder Creek, is expected to be charged with multiple arson-related crimes, on top of the burglary and theft counts for which he previously being held in Santa Cruz County jail. According to his listed booking offenses, the fires caused a minimum of $7 million in damage.

Santa Cruz County Sheriff Jim Hart said Coy set the fire in front of three other men during an apparent dispute. Coy reportedly denied responsibility for the blaze.

The Bear Fire, which broke out the night of Oct. 16 at a home on Diane’s Way, an offshoot of Bear Creek Canyon Road east of Boulder Creek, consumed 391 acres and destroyed two homes, four outbuildings, five recreational vehicles and 17 vehicles, the Sheriff’s Office said Friday.

Coy first aroused suspicion after a residential burglary reported Oct. 17, the day after the fire started, at a home on Hidden Springs Lane that had been evacuated because of its proximity to the Bear Fire. Coy allegedly stole $15,000 worth of property, including jewelry and a bicycle.

Some of Coy’s “associates” helped lead detectives to a location in Santa Cruz, where authorities say Coy was arrested while riding a stolen bicycle and wearing stolen cycling gear, and was found with a backpack containing other stolen property.

In the wake of the fire, detectives received multiple reports of Coy being spotted in the area with several other men. Those same associates reportedly implicated Coy in the fire.

Hart said he had rarely seen such reckless and depraved acts.

“This case had the potential to really blow up on us,” he said Friday.

According to jail records, Coy is now booked on five felony counts encompassing arson involving forest lands and inhabited structures, and arson causing great bodily injury.

That’s on top of his earlier arrest, which yielded nine felony counts covering burglary, grand theft, conspiracy, carjacking, and being a felon in possession of a firearm. Two of those counts stem from an unrelated warrant that had been issued for Coy for being a felon in possession of a firearm and brandishing a firearm.

The dispute that investigators say preceded the fire occurred between Coy and the other men downhill from the Diane’s Way property, whose listed owner is Julia Cabibi. All four men reportedly lived on the property, and Coy was apparently in a dating relationship with Cabibi, who also lived on the parcel in a home that was destroyed by the fire.

Detectives are looking to speak with Cabibi, but said she is neither a suspect nor a person of interest. Cabibi posted on her Facebook page prior to Friday’s announcement that she already believed fire was started intentionally.

“My house got burned down because some (expletive) was stealing my uncle’s muscle cars and I found him out,” Cabibi wrote.

The property is strewn with more than 30 gutted vehicles, and a variety of fuel tanks and generators. Sgt. Chris Clark said the Sheriff’s Office is aware of allegations about vehicle theft at the property, which incidentally was raided by authorities in 2015 for housing a chop shop. Cabibi was arrested and later pleaded guilty to two criminal charges in connection with the case.

Neighbors said they noticed an increase in the frequency of gunfire in the area in the days leading up to the fire.

Including Coy, there have been six arrests in the immediate fire zone since since the Bear Fire began its destruction with a house at 475 Diane’s Way near the 800 block of Bear Creek Canyon Road.

Three men were arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon after they fired a shotgun at the vehicle of a couple reportedly looking for a lost dog near a marijuana farm about a half-mile from the fire’s origin. One of the suspects also threatened the pair with a baseball bat. The couple was also arrested for entering a restricted disaster area.

Thirteen firefighters were injured while battling the flames amid steep and rugged terrain, officials said. Three of those injuries were deemed serious, and one of the injured firefighters remains in the hospital.

Cal Fire said it planned to patrol the area over the next few days and encouraged residents to report any signs of smoke.

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The Bear Fire is one of many that have kept firefighters busy across California this month.

In the North Bay, Cal Fire is nearing full containment on the Nuns, Tubbs and Atlas fires (94, 95 and 97 percent, respectively). The Wine Country wildfires have killed at least 42 people, destroyed thousands of homes and charred tens of thousands of acres.

Staff writer Jason Green contributed to this report.

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