Grass Valley Fires Lead to One Arrest, Prompting Scrutiny Over Low Bail
Bennett Fire. Photo by Nevada County Sheriff’s Office
Grass Valley, California — CAL FIRE and local emergency crews responded late Monday evening, July 28, 2025, to multiple vegetation fires near East Bennett Road and Lava Rock Avenue in Grass Valley. The incident, now known as the Bennett Fire, involved several separate ignition points. All were contained within approximately 30 minutes, according to fire officials.
Miranda Schwegler, reporting for Watch Duty, was among the first to cover the developing situation. At 8:56 p.m., she posted: “Resources are on scene of two separate vegetation fires totaling about a ¼ to ½ acre burning at a slow rate of spread in grass and brush — per arriving unit.” Moments later, she reported a third fire near Union Jack Street and, shortly after that, updated the count to “6-7 separate fires,” citing radio traffic.
The fires were scattered throughout the area between DeMartini RV Sales and East Bennett Road. The California Highway Patrol was called in to manage traffic between Union Jack Street and Lava Rock Avenue. By approximately 9:30 p.m., firefighters had halted the fires’ forward progress and begun mop-up operations. The final assessment confirmed four separate burn sites, a total lower than the previous count.
As word spread, posts on the “Nevada County Happening Now” Facebook group amplified public concern. One commenter, Debbie Eldredge, reported hearing a scanner transmission stating, “Someone is clearly out there starting fires.” Another commenter, Joe Allgeier, added, “Cal Fire [is] reporting that they think they see the person that has been starting the fires.”
At around 11:00 p.m., CAL FIRE Officer Brian Donnelly arrested Juan Galindo-Chavez, 38, of Grass Valley, on Railroad Avenue in connection with the fires. Galindo-Chavez, a roofer, was booked into Wayne Brown Correctional Facility at 5:21 a.m. the following morning. He faces charges under California Penal Code 452(d), which covers the unlawful causing of a fire to property.
Bail was set at $500 — significantly below the typical range of $25,000 to $250,000 for arson-related charges, per the Nevada County Superior Court’s 2025 bail schedule. CAL FIRE has not publicly addressed the discrepancy. Comments from residents on social media have shown shock and disappointment that the bail was set so low.
The same county bail schedule has set the bail for loitering around a public toilet to three times that amount, at $1,500.
Public records show Galindo-Chavez has no history of serious criminal activity, aside from a traffic violation.
In a comment on CAL FIRE’s official Facebook post, former Nevada City Mayor Duane Strawser, also a City of Grass Valley employee, criticized the circumstances surrounding the arrest: “Just like Sierra Motorsports, Arsonist is well known and could/should have been prevented. It’s called accountability, which seems to be a lost concept in our current legal system/s.”
Elizabeth Huston, who was arrested in August 2024 for allegedly starting the fire that destroyed Sierra Motorsports, is scheduled to appear in court a year later on August 18, 2025 for a pre-trial conference related to the case. A pre-trial conference is a procedural court meeting where attorneys and the judge review the case, discuss possible plea agreements, examine evidence and witness lists, and set a timeline for trial-related motions and proceedings.
Prior to the August 2024 incident, Huston had already been arrested multiple times and released, which also had residents questioning the effectiveness of local law enforcement and the courts in being able to keep homes, businesses, and lives safe.
The location of this week’s Bennett Fire bears a troubling resemblance to a previous blaze that erupted nearly four years ago. In August 2021, a wildfire also named the Bennett Fire broke out near Bennett Road and Lava Rock Avenue in Grass Valley — the same general area as the July 2025 incident.
According to CAL FIRE reports at the time, the 2021 Bennett Fire was determined to be human-caused, though no arrests were made. The fire spread rapidly, growing to an estimated 50 to 60 acres within just a few hours.
It took four days for firefighting crews to fully contain the blaze, which drew significant resources. The 2021 Bennett Fire remains one of several fire events in the region that CAL FIRE has attributed to human activity, highlighting ongoing concerns about fire safety and enforcement, and the recent fire serves as a sharp reminder of the wildfire risks in the densely wooded foothills of Nevada County.