$500,000 Bail Set for Centralia Arson Suspect Pending Investigation, Possible Charges 

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The 31-year-old man arrested on suspicion of arson after a vacant restaurant building on Harrison Avenue in Centralia caught fire Sunday morning will be held in the Lewis County Jail on $500,000 bail until at least Tuesday afternoon, a judge decided Monday. 

The suspect, Christopher James Jackson Jr., had not been charged as of Monday afternoon. 

The Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office asked Lewis County Superior Court to approve a 72-hour probable cause hold for Jackson while prosecutors wait for investigative reports to be completed.

Judge Joely Yeager granted that request and set Jackson’s preliminary hearing over to 4 p.m. on Tuesday. 

“We should have all of the reports and be able to make a charging decision by then,” Deputy Prosecutor Paul Masiello said on Monday. 

Yeager also granted Masiello’s request for the high bail amount, citing community safety concerns and Jackson’s “significant” criminal and warrant history. 

Officers with the Centralia Police Department arrested Jackson Sunday morning after they spoke with him in the vicinity of the fire at 933 Harrison Ave.

Jackson was the first person to report the fire Sunday morning, according to an affidavit of probable cause filed in Lewis County Superior Court Monday afternoon. 

The Lewis County 911 Communications Center dispatched fire and law personnel to the fire shortly after 7 a.m. on Sunday. 

Jackson reportedly talked with fire personnel and then approached a Centralia sergeant and identified another man as “a likely suspect in the fire,” according to the affidavit. 

An officer familiar with the man Jackson named reportedly saw the man in downtown Centralia earlier that day “and it was close enough to the time the fire started for him to not be involved due to the distances involved,” according to the affidavit. 

When questioned further, Jackson “would slightly change his story of what took place,” according to the affidavit. “Because Jackson was the first person to call in the fire at that location, (an officer) suspected he may have been the one to start it.” 

When the officer pressed Jackson about details of his story, Jackson allegedly “admitted he was inside the building when ash from his cigarette landed on a computer chair, which then ignited.” 

Jackson allegedly said he then gathered his belongings, noticed the fire had grown, left the building and called 911. 

“During his conversation with (the officer), Jackson cried and said he felt bad for causing the fire,” according to the affidavit. 

A Centralia detective sergeant who has training in fire investigation advised that “ash from a cigarette wouldn’t get hot enough to ignite a chair,” indicating “the fire had been started by other means,” according to the affidavit. 

Jackson reportedly had a cigarette lighter on his person, 30 fentanyl pills and paraphernalia used to inhale controlled substances, according to the affidavit. He also had visible blistering on his hand and burn marks on his jacket “that appeared consistent with someone smoking a controlled substance and dropping the pipe on themselves.” 

Jackson’s pupils were constricted during his conversation with the officer, “indicating that he was under the influence of a controlled substance,” according to the affidavit. 



While no one was inside the building when firefighters arrived Sunday morning, the structure has been frequently broken into and used by people experiencing homelessness, according to the Centralia Police Department. 

The Centralia Police Department last did a security check on the building on Friday, March 3, after officers got a report that people were gaining access through a broken window. 

During the security check, an officer reportedly contacted Jackson, who was exiting from the side of the building. 

Jackson allegedly admitted to “having been inside the building on prior occasions” and said he had secured the broken window from the inside with a piece of wood, according to the affidavit. 

Officers confirmed the building was secure before advising Jackson not to enter the building again and leaving the scene. 

Inside the building, officers reportedly saw “there were feces, drug paraphernalia and it appeared that the cushions from the booths had been arranged on the floor for people to sit on.” 

While the Centralia Police Department initially reported Jackson was a Chehalis resident and later identified him as “a transient who has recently been in the Lewis County area,” defense attorney Rachael Tiller informed the court Monday that Jackson lives with family in Centralia and has been employed there full time for the last four years. 

“He has strong ties to the area,” Tiller said Monday. 

As of Monday afternoon, the Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office was considering charging Jackson with first-degree arson, which is a class A felony with a maximum penalty of life in prison.

Under Washington state law, the charge requires evidence that the defendant knowingly and maliciously started a fire that endangered any human life, including that of a firefighter.

No injuries resulting from Sunday’s blaze were reported. 

Riverside Fire Authority and multiple mutual aid crews from nearby agencies, including Lewis County Fire District 6 and the West Thurston Fire Authority, successfully extinguished the fire on Sunday and prevented it from spreading to nearby structures. 

The building itself was a total loss. The structure was severely unstable and at risk for collapse when firefighters extinguished the bulk of the fire, prompting Tyler Rentals out of Chehalis and staff from Centralia Public Works to use an excavator to knock down the remaining structure.

The Centralia Police Department encourages anyone with information about the incident to call Centralia police at 360-330-7680 or Lewis County Communications at 360-740-1105.