Crews Dismantle 1 Command Post : Steckel Fire Declared Out, Green Meadow Blaze to Get Final Check

Ventura County fire commanders dismantled their command post at Arroyo Verde Park in Ventura on Thursday and declared they had finally put out the 26,500-acre Steckel wildfire between Santa Paula and Ventura.

They also were preparing to dismantle the command post for the 43,844-acre Green Meadow brush fire near Thousand Oaks today and send home the last of more than 2,000 firefighters who worked more than 10 days to put it out.

If no hot spots show up on an infrared scanner flown by helicopter above the Thousand Oaks site overnight, that fire likely will be declared out today, said county Fire Chief George E. Lund.

At that point, Lund said, he will order the remaining out-of-county crews dismissed or dispatched to other fires and Ventura County fire crews to return to their posts “unless something unusual happens.”

Lund said that Ventura County crews this weekend will patrol the site of the Green Meadow fire--the largest in Southern California this year. The next largest was a September blaze that consumed 43,200 acres of Los Padres National Forest near Santa Barbara.

Fire crews also will stay on duty in the fire area around Santa Paula, watching for hot spots, said Pam Sears, a spokeswoman for the Ventura County Fire Department.

Meanwhile, the County Board of Supervisors plans to consider offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of the arsonist who touched off the Green Meadow blaze.

Supervisor Maria VanderKolk, who toured the fire scene, proposed the measure Thursday.

“How could someone hold life and the property of others in such contempt,” VanderKolk wrote in a letter to the board.

“We may never be able to answer that question, but we can certainly do everything within our power to bring the individual who put so many people in harm’s way to justice,” the letter said. “I understand the county’s budget is tight, but $10,000 is a small price to pay for this individual’s arrest and conviction.”

The board will consider the reward at its meeting Tuesday morning at the County Government Center in Ventura.

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The reward may help provide tips to investigators who have been working to catch the arsonists believed responsible for the four major fires started last week in Ventura County.

In addition to the fire near Thousand Oaks, arsonists are being blamed for the 26,500-acre fire that destroyed a barn and miles of brush between Ventura and Santa Paula; a 1,650-acre fire that threatened dozens of houses and destroyed a mobile home near Wheeler Gorge in Los Padres National Forest, and a 1,500-acre blaze on the Los Angeles County line between Simi Valley and Chatsworth that endangered dozens of homes in and around Box Canyon.

At least seven other arson fires started in the last two weeks around the county were put out before they could cause any damage.

Firefighters doused a five-acre blaze that began about 11 a.m. Thursday near the old Moorpark High School at Poindexter and Moorpark avenues. About 24 trucks and 72 firefighters descended on the blaze and contained it within 25 minutes, fire officials said.

“We just wrote it off to children playing with fire,” said Bill Hager, a county arson investigator.

And Ventura County Crime Stoppers is offering a $1,000 reward for information about thieves who stole fire equipment and clothing from fire vehicles parked at the Thousand Oaks fire command post at Borchard Park.

While firefighters slept after long hours battling the fire last Friday, someone took a yellow fire coat with “Hood” stenciled on the back, goggles, a yellow plastic helmet with “59” stenciled on it and two flashlights from the back seat of a water tender truck.

Later that evening between 9:30 and 11:30, someone took a red nylon “L.A. Rescue” equipment bag with “Strike Team Leader” printed on it. The bag contained a yellow fire jacket, a white helmet with the words “Fire Battalion Chief” and “Estrada” printed on it and other firefighting clothing valued at more than $2,000.

Anonymous tipsters can call 494-TALK in Thousand Oaks, 987-TALK in Camarillo, 385-TALK in Oxnard and 986-TALK in Port Hueneme.