CAMARILLO : Court Date for Man Cited in Fire Moved
The arraignment for a Camarillo man accused of accidentally starting a fire in Los Padres National Forest last month was continued Thursday in a Santa Maria courtroom.
The hearing at which Richard Hanger, a U.S. history and government teacher at Thousand Oaks High School, is expected to enter his plea of innocence or guilt was postponed to Sept. 16, a county clerk said.
Hanger was cited for allegedly starting a fire that burned 3,500 acres in Santa Barbara County and cost more than $720,000 to extinguish.
Hanger called the Santa Barbara County Fire Department fearing that he was responsible for the blaze after seeing television reports. He had been in the forest hunting rabbits with a friend and lit a cigarette to create smoke to deter bugs, he said.
Hanger said the cigarette caused a small fire of about one square foot, which he and his companion stomped out, smothered in dirt and flooded with five gallons of water.
But fire officials said it may have reignited due to high temperatures and light winds in the area.
Hanger could be billed for the cost of extinguishing the fire, a several-day effort that took 600 firefighters, assisted by six air tankers and several helicopters.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
