April 2012

Brent Robert Kastroff

From a Contra Costa County Fire Protection District press release:

Late on Friday April 6th, 62 year old Walnut Creek resident Brent Robert Kastroff was arrested by Contra Costa County Fire District Investigators and the Walnut Creek Police Department at his home in the community of Rossmoor.

In January of this year, Fire Investigators received  information about a small fire that occurred on private property on Vista Del Valle in Lafayette. The property is a large parcel that contains 3 homes but the majority of the 90 acres is grass covered land that even when maintained can still pose a wildfire threat to nearby homes and residents due to it’s size and topography. The investigation lead to the discovery of a previously unreported fire in May of 2011 in the same area; however there were no leads in either incident.

Last month Fire Investigators received information about a third fire on the same property that was similar to the previous two fires. Fire Investigators were able to develop some witness information after conducting a thorough neighborhood canvass assisted by the on duty firefighters from Lafayette Station 17. The investigation led Fire Investigators to contact Mr. Kastroff at his home in
Rossmoor which is adjacent to the property where the three fires had been discovered. Mr. Kastroff was interviewed and admitted to Fire Investigators he had started the fires and eventually led them to the very spots where the fires had been discovered earlier. Mr. Kastroff stated he did not feel he had done anything wrong because the fires were small and he had only started some pieces of paper on fire which caused small spots of grass to burn. What Mr. Kastroff failed to realize is the danger posed by causing a fire to start – even a small fire. Any fire, accidental or intentional, has the potential to become catastrophic and deadly. Fire investigators submitted the case to the District Attorney’s Office late Friday and a warrant for arson was issued for Kastroff’s arrest. Kastroff was booked into the County jail where his bail was set at $225,000 for three counts of arson to forest land.

Kastroff has a history of fire setting dating back to 1995 and Kastroff was arrested in San Rafael in 1998 for setting fire to small papers in a trash can.
Other arsonists apprehended by the Fire Investigation Unit, such as Scott Weinberg who set numerous fires in the Concord and Walnut Creek area in 2009 and eventually caused over one million dollars in damage to a commercial building, and Thomas Hartman of Pittsburg who is currently awaiting trial for allegedly setting approximately 50 fires over the past two years, exhibited similar behavior to Kastroff in the beginning of their arson sprees.
Fires of any size should be reported immediately to the fire district. A fire appearing to be small or harmless may be important signs of dangerous or potential arson activity.
If anyone is aware of any fires possibly associated with Mr. Kastroff they are asked to contact the District’s Fire Investigation Unit at 925-942-9140 or call the Arson Tip Line at 1-866-502-7766.

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