THOUSAND OAKS : Fire Department May Bill Church
The Ventura County Fire Department may bill a Seventh-Day Adventist church for the costs of fighting a brush fire in Newbury Park earlier this week, an investigator said Thursday.
Flames from the ignitions of model rockets were to blame for the brush fire Monday that scorched 35 acres of land owned by the Newbury Park Adventist Academy, fire officials said.
It took about 140 county firefighters 1 1/2 hours to put out the blaze.
Fire investigator Peter Cronk said the cost of fighting the fire has not yet been tallied, but will probably be finished by next week.
Ron Thompson, business manager for the academy, said the fire was ignited by participants in a summer camp that was using the academy’s facilities.
The model rocket class was sponsored by Camp Conejo, a day camp run by the Thousand Oaks Seventh-Day Adventist Church, a camp official said. The academy and the church are independent organizations.
Church officials were not available for comment.
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