A 69-year-old man who initially denied setting fire to his Spokane Valley home earlier this month admitted last week to starting the blaze because he got paranoid from using methamphetamine, according to court documents.
James G. Miller, a felon, was arrested last week on suspicion of first-degree arson for setting fire in the living room of his manufactured home on Oct. 5.
Before Miller's confession, Spokane Valley Fire Department Assistant Fire Marshal Ben Reece told The Spokesman-Review he believed Miller burned down the home, but the official cause of the blaze was undetermined.
Firefighters responded at about 1:25 a.m. to 3415 N. Beige Road and found the home engulfed in flames, according to court records.
Reece wrote in court documents that Miller was yelling at voices that night, with one neighbor reporting Miller saying, "I will burn my house down" about 30 minutes before the fire started.
Reece said fire crews had to stage a short distance away from the residence because Miller reportedly yielded a knife. Deputies detained Miller as firefighters extinguished the fire, which led to the collapse of the roof and floor, according to court documents.
Miller, who lives alone, was taken to MultiCare Valley Hospital for evaluation. Miller told Reece at the hospital he did not start the fire. He said he was asleep and awoke to the sound of smoke alarms going off, so he went outside. Reece returned to the hospital that afternoon and Miller gave the same story.
Miller owns the home but rents the lot. The owner of the land told deputies Thursday that Miller told him he started the fire.
A deputy then contacted Miller, who was under his burnt home and finally crawled out after multiple commands, court records say. He detained Miller, who admitted to the deputy he started the fire by lighting a roll of toilet paper on fire and throwing it on his kitchen table in his living room. The toilet paper then rolled off the table and ignited cardboard he had in his window.
He said he tried to extinguish the fire and thought he had put it out when he went to the bathroom to find clothes to put on. When he returned from the bathroom, Miller said he realized the fire spread throughout the living room and that it was too large to try and extinguish, so he exited the home.
Miller said he started the fire because he got paranoid from using methamphetamine again. He told the "evil spirits" that were tempting him to use drugs to leave his house or he's going to "catch my house on fire," court documents say. He described the evil spirits as demons inside him, or temptations, and not a physical spirit or hallucination he was seeing.
Miller said he denied starting the fire initially because he was ashamed of his meth use.
Miller remained Monday in Spokane County Jail on a $100,000 bond and is set for an arraignment Tuesday in Spokane County Superior Court.
© 2026 The Spokesman-Review (Spokane, Wash.). Visit www.spokesman.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
