280-Acre Blaze in Brush East of Fillmore Brought Under Control : Fire season: Teen-agers eating lunch in the area are suspected of accidentally starting the blaze. Experts fear that Fourth of July fireworks could ignite the county’s tinder-dry brush.

A major brush fire east of Fillmore burned nearly 30 more acres Sunday, but firefighters brought it under control and hoped to have it extinguished by this morning.

The blaze began about 1 p.m. Saturday and blackened more than 280 acres by Sunday afternoon, firefighters said, making it an unusually large blaze for so early in the fire season, which began May 1.

“It’s got the potential to be a severe season out there,” said Peter Cronk, an investigator for the Ventura County Fire Department. “I think we’re going to get a lot of fires . . . this year.”

Cronk and other fire officials said they are especially concerned about misuse of fireworks during Fourth of July celebrations.

“It gets crazy around here around the Fourth of July, especially when it’s hot and dry,” said Larry Whelan, a County Fire chief. “With those conditions, any little sparkler or firecracker will start a fire right now.”

Investigators suspect that two teen-agers started the fire near Fillmore, probably accidentally. “I think what they were probably doing is sitting up there and eating their lunch. They left everything there. Their sandwiches were there. Their Fritos were there.”

Two other youths told Cronk they saw teen-agers wearing backpacks running from the fire, he said. Had all four teen-agers remained at the scene, they might have been able to extinguish it, Cronk added.

Fingerprints have been taken from a lighter and from plastic cups, Cronk said.

About 150 people fought the fire Sunday. Using seven engines and a helicopter, firefighters had it under control at 4:38 p.m., said dispatcher CeCe Grives.

“There are going to be hot spots for a few days,” Grives said, such as tree stumps that continue to burn.

Whelan said that with the approach of Fourth of July celebrations, the department is issuing fireworks safety materials to businesses and organizations.

Ironically, Fillmore is the only place in Ventura County where fireworks can be legally purchased, from Thursday through July 4.

About 15 nonprofit civic and church organizations will set up stands along California 126 selling sparklers and other “safe and sane” fireworks, said Louis Garnica, fireworks chairman for St. Francis of Assisi Church of Fillmore.

The Rotary Club and Lions Club also will have sales booths, he said.

Garnica said the church supplies safety brochures with its products.

A 1989 state fire marshal’s report said there were 29 fireworks-related incidents--including fires and injuries--in Ventura County between June 17 and July 17 last year, causing a loss estimated at $119,050.

Fourteen of the incidents were caused by safe and sane fireworks, Whelan said.

While the Fillmore fire might have been caused by negligence, Cronk said two other weekend blazes--a one-acre fire in Santa Paula near the 12th Street bridge and a two-acre brush fire near Ventura Avenue and Canada Larga Road--were deliberately set, probably by someone motivated by the Fillmore blaze.

“I think they’re connected because there were 20 minutes between them and that’s what it takes to get from one place to another,” Cronk said. “Somebody’s out there seeing this big head of smoke saying, ‘Oh, boy, I want to get involved too.’ ”