4 Accused of Causing Brush Fire

Four teenagers apparently out for a late-night joy ride were arrested on suspicion of starting a 600-acre fire that swept within 100 feet of million-dollar homes Tuesday before being contained 16 hours later, authorities said.

Ventura County sheriff’s deputies arrested Chad Montagnino, 18, of Westlake Village, a 17-year-old from Thousand Oaks, and two 16-year-old boys from Agoura Hills in connection with the fire, which broke out at 2:26 a.m. above North Ranch Country Club Estates in eastern Ventura County, said Sheriff’s Sgt. Ron Nelson.

The four were arrested on suspicion of carelessly causing a fire, which is a misdemeanor, Nelson said. They also were booked on suspicion of taking a vehicle without the owner’s permission, a felony, said Det. J.T. Manwell. The van they were in belonged to the mother of one of the Agoura Hills boys.

Montagnino was being held on $20,000 bail. The three juveniles were awaiting transfer to Juvenile Hall, Manwell said.

Arson investigators believe the fire was started by sparks from the van as the teenagers drove through heavy brush near the 4000 block of Lakeview Canyon Road, Nelson said. The fire burned the van and spread, fanned by 30-mph winds.

Firefighters stopped the blaze about a mile and a half south of its origin, less than 100 feet from condominiums on Via Colinas.

Up at 3 a.m. to walk his dog, Dennis Harding said he smelled smoke and heard sirens. He drove a short distance and saw 50-foot high flames heading toward his home.

“The whole side of the mountain was lit up like a charcoal grill,” he said. “When you see flames of 50 and 60 feet coming over the hill, all hot yellow and white, you just want to get out of there.”

He pounded on neighbors’ doors, making sure they were awake. Residents loaded pets and important papers into their vehicles and parked them down the street.

One of those who left was Susan Lewis, 36, whose bedroom window now faces a blackened hillside.

“I woke up to a wall of fire at 4 a.m.,” said Lewis, who lives in a condo she bought two years ago. “I was really scared. I was sitting in my living room saying prayers.”

Shoeleh Di Julio, who lives with her husband and two daughters in the 900 block of Country Valley Road in Country Club Estates, said a frantic telephone call woke her.

“Smoke was coming in the house and I was having a hard time breathing,” Di Julio said. “I told my kids to just take stuff that is hard to replace.”

On Hunter Valley Lane, frightened homeowners scrambled to load valuables into their cars as flames swept near their backyards.

“At first it seemed far away so we weren’t concerned about it and we went back to sleep,” said Lena Kim, who was staying at her parents’ house. They awoke two hours later to see the flames marching toward them.

Residents of the condominiums on Via Colinas said many people gripe about a monthly fee for the brush clearance. But, Harding said, “that firebreak is what saved us.”

A Ventura County code requiring that brush be trimmed at least 100 feet from residences kept Tuesday’s fire from destroying dozens of houses and condominiums, authorities said.

Scott Quirarte, an arson investigator for the Ventura County Fire Department, said the blaze probably started accidentally when the four teenagers attempted to back the van out of an area filled with dry brush.

“You have a thick layer of grass here and the vehicle was driving on it,” Quirarte said. “We didn’t find any incendiary devices.”

The charred van, its melted front tires hanging perilously on the edge of a ridge with acres of blackened hills in the background, may have become overheated and ignited the brush as the driver attempted to turn back after getting stuck, Quirarte said.

Nelson said he didn’t know which of the four teenagers was driving. Sheriff’s deputies arrested them a short time later near the Thousand Oaks Auto Mall, he said.

Ventura County authorities turned them over to detectives with the Los Angeles County sheriff’s Lost Hills station, Nelson said.

Manwell said the mother of one of the teenagers “had just one payment [on the minivan] and then one of them gets the fine idea to drive back into the hills.”

The high ridgeline with sweeping vistas of the Conejo Valley is a favorite after-hours haunt for teenagers, authorities said. Investigators found several wine and beer bottles at the scene.

At least 600 firefighters from Ventura and Los Angeles counties and several city fire departments battled the blaze before officials declared it contained at 6 p.m. Tuesday.

Forty engines and 15 hand crews were involved, Ventura County Fire Department spokeswoman Sandi Wells said. They were aided by two water-dropping helicopters and two air tankers carrying fire-retardant chemicals.

North Ranch homes sell for an average of $1.8 million, said John Prescott, a Thousand Oaks city planner. The subdivisions overlook roughly 830 acres of brushy hills and canyons.

North Ranch Country Club Estates has about 175 homes, Prescott said, and there are 648 units in Hidden Canyon Condominiums on Via Colinas.