--- description: It was the third largest fire in the state's history title: California: Man Charged With Starting Huge 2013 Fire image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5244b6f5182a2391/69869ecd06f2c14b0d3303d9/yosemite-fire-2013.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Man Charged With Starting Huge California Fire  by [Eliana Dockterman](/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Correspondent Aug 8, 2014 12:02 AM CUT  The Rim Fire burns near Yosemite National Park in Buck Meadows, Calif. on Aug. 24, 2013. The Rim Fire burns near Yosemite National Park in Buck Meadows, Calif. on Aug. 24, 2013.Max Whittaker—Reuters  by [Eliana Dockterman](/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Correspondent Aug 8, 2014 12:02 AM CUT Authorities have charged a man with starting California’s third largest wildfire ever. The 2013 fire spread across 400 sq. mi. of Yosemite National Park and the Stanislaus National Forest. A grand jury returned a four-count indictment against Keith Matthew Emerald on Thursday, for allegedly starting the blaze on Aug. 17, 2013, the Associated Press [reports](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/man-charged-starting-massive-california-blaze "undefined"). Investigators say Emerald has vacillated between admitting to starting the fire as he was hunting deer by burning trash from his backpack and then denying that he had done so. The burning went on for two months and cost $125 million to combat. Emerald was picked up by a rescue helicopter an hour after the fire began. No court date for Emerald’s arraignment has been set. \[[_AP_](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/man-charged-starting-massive-california-blaze "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3090038/man-charged-with-starting-huge-california-fire/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3090038/man-charged-with-starting-huge-california-fire/"},"headline":"Man Charged With Starting Huge California Fire","datePublished":"2014-08-08T00:02:41.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T09:33:44.292Z","description":"It was the third largest fire in the state's history","url":"https://time.com/3090038/man-charged-with-starting-huge-california-fire/","keywords":["Crime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5244b6f5182a2391/69869ecd06f2c14b0d3303d9/yosemite-fire-2013.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliana Dockterman","jobTitle":"Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5244b6f5182a2391/69869ecd06f2c14b0d3303d9/yosemite-fire-2013.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The Rim Fire burns near Buck Meadows, California","caption":"The Rim Fire burns near Buck Meadows, California","creditText":"Max Whittaker—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3090038/man-charged-with-starting-huge-california-fire/","name":"Man Charged With Starting Huge California Fire"}}]}] ```