Landowner Charged With Violating Codes

A man who owns the property where a 5,000-acre brush fire started last year was charged Friday with nine building code violations that could result in punishment of up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine, the Orange County district attorney’s office said.

The charges against Dan Dulac, 38, resulted from an October 1997 fire in Baker Canyon, authorities said. The blaze led investigators from various county agencies to a 1,000-acre property where officials allege that Dulac was running a metal recycling business. Dulac denies operating a businesses on the property.

For nearly a year since then, Dulac’s property, which is a few miles southeast of Modjeska Canyon, has been scrutinized by agents from various county agencies to determine if there were zoning, health, environmental and building violations.

That investigation “was a result of the exposure of the property after the fire as well as an inquiry made by members of the public,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Lance Jensen said. “They’re serious matters in the sense that they go toward fire and health safety issues. They are quality-of-life and neighborhood types of offenses.”

Fire authorities said the Baker Canyon fire was started by someone burning insulation off copper wiring on Dulac’s property. Embers escaped from a container and ignited nearby brush.

*

“We’re not running a business up here, it’s a ranch,” Dulac said Friday. “We had people who worked on the property, and they were living in mobile homes that had been on the property, and some of those buildings do not meet the current building codes.”

The charges against Dulac are criminal misdemeanors, which are far less serious than the arson or negligence charges he would have faced had he been found responsible for the fire.

Officials with the Orange County Fire Authority have said they are considering whether to try to recover from Dulac the $3.8 million that was spent to battle the blaze, which burned for three days. Under state law, public agencies may seek such reimbursement through the courts.

Among the charges against Dulac are maintaining dangerous electrical wiring; failure to provide adequate bathroom facilities for workers; having improper additions and remodeling without proper permits or inspections; occupying a building in a manner contrary to its use permit; and allowing employees to live “in a trailer unfit for human habitation.”

Also charged with nine similar violations was Dulac’s brother, Ronald, who was going to build a home on the property but has changed his plans. Both men are scheduled to be arraigned in Orange County Central Municipal Court on Sept. 30.

Dulac said he wants to cooperate with authorities and put the experience behind him.

“I must have had 15 different agencies out here, everyone from county assessor to the sheriff, and every one of them had their little issues,” Dulac said. “My whole thing is cooperating with them and taking care of the problems. That’s my 100% goal. If there’s something they want fixed or changed, I’ll do it.”