Agoura Hills Volunteers to Patrol Area in Wake of Fires

A citizens’ patrol will comb the Agoura Hills area in search of anyone appearing suspicious in the aftermath of 15 brush fires thought to have been set by the same person, authorities said Friday.

The group of 80 volunteers was to meet later this month to learn first aid and other skills in case of an earthquake, but authorities requested that it be mobilized to help in the brush-fire emergency, said Ray Shackelford, assistant fire chief in charge of the western portion of Los Angeles County.

Authorities plan to meet this morning with the group, whose members could begin patrols next week.

Meanwhile, speculation about who has been setting the fires was sweeping through Agoura Hills Friday.

Many Calls

More than 100 residents have called Los Angeles County authorities in the past week to report seeing someone or something unusual shortly before some of the fires broke out, said Lt. Bill McSweeney of the county Sheriff’s Department.

Information gleaned from the calls coupled with evidence found at fire scenes suggests that the blazes--including four this week--may be the work of onearsonist, McSweeney said. The fires have burned acreage on both sides of L.A. County’s border with Ventura County.

“It’s just a horrible pattern,” McSweeney said. “If we’d had high winds, someone could have been seriously hurt.”

“It’s the worst string of arsons I have ever seen,” Shackelford said. “And the fires are getting closer and closer to structures.”

None of the blazes have damaged buildings, but a fire in the hills about 100 feet from Agoura Hills High on Thursday came uncomfortably close to the campus, said Robert Donahue, assistant principal.

School Incident

About 900 students were just leaving summer school classes about 12:30 p.m. Thursday when the fire broke out, Donahue said. Moments earlier, an announcement had been made over the school’s public-address system requesting students to report any suspicious behavior in the vicinity of a blaze, such as anyone walking through the brush.

“It’s like whoever did it planned it so everyone could see it,” said Melinda Piume, a 15-year-old sophomore.

Piume said she and her friends think the fires were set by “a group of kids, but every day we change which group we think it might be.”

The teen-agers are not the only ones speculating about the fires. They are the talk of the town, according to residents of hillside neighborhoods.

Lena Crarey, who lives less than a mile from the high school, said she and her neighbors were “all scared because we see the pattern of the fires.”

“The fear is tremendous,” she said. “It could be a neighbor.”

Jean Lee, who lives near Crarey, described how she and her son ran around the house madly collecting important papers and irreplaceable photographs when the blaze broke out Thursday. The blackened soil behind her home is typical of many denuded hillsides in the community.

“I’m afraid to go on vacation because I don’t want to leave my house vacant in case there is another fire,” Lee said.

Shopkeepers on Kanan Road also report the fires as the hot topic of conversation around towns.

Customers Uneasy

Lowell Burk, 49, who owns a fabric store, said his customers have been extremely uneasy about the fires. He recently overheard a conversation between two women and a little boy, which lends a humorous touch to the serious situation.

The women were discussing how tired they were of hearing sirens and helicopters, indications that another fire was being fought. The little boy piped in that he knew who had set the blazes. The person’s name started with an “A,” he said, but that was all he could remember.

One by one, the women suggested the names of fellow residents, but the boy kept shaking his head, Burk said. Finally, the boy said he had heard the name on the radio.

“Was it ‘arson? “ the boy’s mother asked.

“That’s it,” the boy said. “Mr. Arson!”