Cal Fire official sought in manhunt is fired

A battalion chief for California’s firefighting agency who is being sought in a murder investigation has now been fired from his post.

California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokesman Daniel Berlant says 55-year-old Orville Fleming, a battalion chief who has taught for several years at the department’s fire academy in Ione, has not reported for duty or called in for five days.

Berlant says the termination was automatic because of Fleming’s absence from work and has nothing to do with the allegations against him.

Last week, the Sacramento County coroner’s office identified 26-year-old Sarah Jane Douglas as the woman whose body was found fatally stabbed Thursday in the south Sacramento County home she shared with Fleming.