Bail cut rejected for alleged fire starter

Eitzen Trinity County Superior Court Judge Anthony Edwards declined to reduce bail for the Los Molinos woman accused of recklessly starting the Coffin Fire in Lewiston, saying that he would like to see her in a more secure environment than what was offered during an Oct. 7 court hearing.

Brenda Joyce Eitzen, 60, appeared in court for a preliminary hearing, and an investigator from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection testified regarding witness accounts implicating her in the Aug. 12 fire. One witness saw a woman matching Eitzen's description running from the fire on Lewiston Road when it was still small. Another found her purse and identification on the ground in the area where the fire started.

The investigator said Eitzen, who was stopped at a CHP roadblock, acknowledged that she may have started the fire. Eitzen told him she was from out of the area but recently had stayed with her sister in Weaverville and at the Trinity Recovery Lodge (A-Frame) sober living facility in Lewiston.

Eitzen told the investigator she walked away from the A-Frame because she was upset, and she tried to light a cigarette with a match but it was too windy. She did not know what she did with the cigarette or match after that, the investigator said. She also thought she might have fallen while she was smoking.

The Coffin Fire started in dry grass and spread quickly uphill, causing evacuations, burning more than 1,000 acres and damaging two residences.

Eitzen is charged with two felonies, recklessly causing a fire on an inhabited property and a similar count pertaining to federal land. She also faces two misdemeanor counts.

Defense attorney Frank O'Connor asked that the felonies be dismissed, but Judge Edwards held Eitzen to answer to all counts.

O'Connor asked that the $100,000 bail amount be reduced since Eitzen did not start the fire intentionally, but Trinity County District Attorney Michael Harper said she still presents a danger to herself and the community. Eitzen has no prior record, he said, but she had a "rough go" in days prior to the blaze, including four contacts with law enforcement and a night in jail to sober up.

From the audience, Eitzen's sister offered to put Eitzen up at her home in Weaverville.

"I'll put my house on the block for her," she said, noting that Eitzen was very sick and on numerous prescription drugs at the time of the fire, and she has gotten better and better while in jail.

Judge Edwards said the bail amount can be revisited at Eitzen's next court appearance, set for Oct. 27.

Eitzen remains in Trinity County Jail.