The video is 30 seconds of teenagers having the time of their lives. Several of them ride in the bed of a pickup on the Fourth of July, firing illegal fireworks in every direction, including at an SUV coming the other way, while one voice yells “shoot at them, shoot at them.” When the box is empty, someone tosses it out of the truck. Minutes later, according to the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, the hills above Highway 97 in central Washington were burning. On September 15 the sheriff released that video, and it is the reason an 18-year-old is sitting in jail on $1 million bail and five other people are being hunted.
Where This Stands Right Now
- The sheriff’s office released the footage September 15, saying it shows the ignition of the Chelan Hills Fire: about 9,700 acres burned, more than 100 structures destroyed, and one man dead.
- Robert Lister, 69, died in his vehicle trying to outrun the fire.
- Michael Yakimov, 18, of Kent, was arrested and booked on first-degree manslaughter, first-degree arson, first-degree malicious mischief and six counts of third-degree assault; a judge set bail at $1 million.
- Five other adults face the same charges and remain at large. Detectives tracked the truck with cell-phone data, surveillance footage and Flock license-plate cameras.
What The Video Shows
Investigators had said since July that fireworks launched from a vehicle started the fire. The footage is the proof, and it is worse than the description. The fireworks are not pointed at the sky. They are aimed at the roadside brush and at other cars, on a day when the state had banned them across the region because the hills were tinder. The empty container goes over the side. The truck keeps going. Douglas County Sheriff Kevin Morris’s office says the clip, combined with the digital trail the truck left behind, is what gave detectives probable cause.
The Man In The Car
Robert Lister was 69. When the fire came over the ridge he got in his vehicle and tried to drive out of it, and did not make it. His was the one death in a fire that also took more than a hundred buildings, many of them homes, along the Columbia River north of Wenatchee. “This is the type of fire that will live with us for the rest of our lives,” the sheriff said when the arrest was announced. Families who lost homes have been watching the video this week and saying, in interviews, what anyone would say: that it looks like a game.
Who Is Charged And Who Isn’t Yet
Yakimov appeared in court in early September and was held on $1 million bail. His family says he did not start the fire and that others in the truck should answer for it, which, to the sheriff’s point, is exactly what the five outstanding arrest warrants are for. The charges are allegations; the video, the cell records and the cameras are what a jury would weigh. Third-degree assault, six counts, is the charge for the fireworks aimed at the people in the other vehicles.
ICYMI‼ Prosecutors say this video shows teens firing fireworks from a truck, sparking the deadly 10,000-acre Chelan Hills Fire in Washington.
A 69-year-old man died after his car went off the road and caught fire.
An 18-year-old has been charged, and authorities are working to… pic.twitter.com/WCuG94v8ng— Mckenzie Richmond (@kenziestuvland) September 16, 2026
What Happens Next
Watch for the five remaining arrests, which the sheriff has said are coming, and for whether prosecutors add charges once the full group is in custody. The manslaughter count is the one that matters: fireworks fires are common on the Fourth, but a manslaughter conviction for one is not, and this case, with the ignition on video and a named victim, is the kind that sets the precedent. Restitution for a hundred destroyed homes is a number nobody in that truck will ever pay.
Sources:
komonews.com, kentreporter.com, khq.com, wsp.wa.gov
