Fireworks Ignite Blaze in Oak View Riverbed

Two juveniles and an adult started a brush fire Wednesday while setting off fireworks in the dry bed of the Ventura River in Oak View, authorities said.

Ventura County firefighters doused the flames before the fire had burned more than half an acre, said Ventura County Sheriff’s Lt. Michael Gullon. But officials had been concerned about the fire’s potential to spread.

“It was scary because a brush fire could start another big fire,” Gullon said, referring to the blaze that burned nearly 5,000 acres in Santa Barbara County last week.

The two juveniles were cited for unlawfully starting a fire and released to the custody of their parents, Gullon said. The adult was not cited. He was released pending further investigation, Gullon said.

The Oak View fire was the second minor brush fire in the county Wednesday. A two-acre fire erupted just after midnight in the dry hills south of Simi Valley. Authorities were investigating the cause of that fire, a County Fire Department spokeswoman said.