SAN GABRIEL, Calif. (AP) — A fire that gutted much of a historic Catholic church in Southern California last year was intentionally set, prosecutors said Tuesday.

The July 11 blaze engulfed the the rooftop and most of the interior of the San Gabriel Mission as it was undergoing renovations to mark its upcoming 250th anniversary celebration. No one was hurt in the fire.

John David Corey, 57, faces multiple counts, including arson of an inhabited structure and first-degree burglary, the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office said in a statement.

It was not immediately clear if he had an attorney who could speak on his behalf.

Prosecutors contend Corey broke into the mission and started the fire, “which spread to the roof and along the length of the church,” the statement said. No motive was given.

The flames spared the altar and historic paintings. Other artifacts had been stored elsewhere as the church underwent renovations.

The coronavirus pandemic forced Masses online but the church building will resume indoor services May 22, according to its website.

“The loss to the mission was in the millions of dollars, but the loss to the community is immeasurable,” District Attorney George Gascón said.

The church was the fourth in a string of Roman Catholic missions established across California by Junipero Serra — an 18th-century Franciscan priest who was canonized by Pope Francis in 2015 — during the era of Spanish colonization.

While many credit Serra with spreading Catholicism along the West Coast, he has long been a symbol of oppression among Indigenous activists.

Racial injustice protesters last year toppled Serra statues in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Sacramento, and San Gabriel officials had moved the mission’s Serra statue before the fire to guard against potential vandalism. The public outcry against Serra last year was part of the investigation into the fire, but officials didn’t immediately announce any connection.

An arraignment date for Corey was not immediately scheduled.

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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Sonoma County officials say they will add artificial intelligence technology to help fight wildfires with a 24-7 monitor to track fire outbreaks.

The technology will be added to the county’s network of wildfire detection cameras that monitor California’s backcountry to spot the first outbreak of flames. Many of the cameras are affixed to existing radio communication towers.

“This early detection technology will provide emergency managers and first responders with round-the-clock monitoring, a sophisticated addition we are excited to add to our alert and warning toolkit,” Sonoma County Board of Supervisors Chair Lynda Hopkins said.

Sonoma County, in the heart of Northern California’s wine country, has been hit hard by devastating wildfires in recent years. In 2017, a blaze caused thousands of people to flee, destroyed more than 5,000 homes, wiped out whole residential blocks in the city of Santa Rosa and killed 24 people.

The system will send a text or email to emergency crews when a possible fire is spotted, and the responding agency would then confirm whether a fire has started.

This month the county awarded a $300,000 contract to South Korea-based Alchera Inc., which specializes in visual AI algorithm development and deployment, officials said.

County officials say Alchera has been working on smoke and fire detection sensors since 2018 through the ALERTWildfire camera system, the existing network of 746 high-tech cameras.

Alchera has already collected more than 10 million images from wildfires that burned between 2013 and 2020 to develop, test and train the technology. So far, fire detection results have shown the technology has had 97% accuracy in detecting a fire, officials said.

The implementation and real-time monitoring of the AI technology will begin May 1. Officials said training and modifications will be taken through the summer until November, when the system will be able to direct alerts without human intervention. That would make the cameras active during the typical fire season.

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