Fire Has Done Enough Damage

When the devastating Ranch Fire swept through Upper Ojai in December it blackened 4,300 acres of forest land, destroyed one home and several lesser structures, and kept an army of 1,600 firefighters on the job over Christmas, running up a bill of more than $5 million.

We see no benefit in adding to that list of casualties the futures of the two teenagers who accidentally started the blaze while attempting to blow up a neighbor’s mailbox with illegal fireworks on a windy night. Probation and substantial sentences of community service would better serve everyone involved.

Brett Schwermer and Jonathan Barrett, both 18, last week withdrew earlier pleas of not guilty during separate hearings in Ventura County Superior Court. Each then pleaded guilty to one felony count of recklessly starting a fire that burned a house and one misdemeanor count of burning personal property.

Judge Steven Hintz is scheduled to sentence the two on June 29. Although the felony charge could bring four years behind bars, prosecutors have agreed not to push for prison time and defense attorneys plan to ask Hintz to place the teens on probation and order them to perform community service.

Because Barrett is the son of James Barrett, a Ventura County sheriff’s captain who serves as Ojai’s police chief, it is important for him to receive the same treatment from the justice system that any other 18-year-old would receive.

But that should not mean prison time when justice would be better served otherwise.

We believe prison time for the two youths who accidentally--if stupidly--started the fire would only add to the damage and do nothing to reduce the pain. It would be far better to order them to use their energies to repay their neighbors for the losses and to reduce the risk of future fires.

Attorney Jay Johnson, who represents Schwermer, told The Times he hopes to persuade Hintz that a more appropriate punishment would be to order the young men to perform community service, such as clearing brush, replanting trees or helping to rebuild the Sisar Road home that was destroyed in the Dec. 21 fire.

“They could cut firebreaks, they could work at the Fire Department doing grunt work, anything the people of Ojai want them to do,” Johnson said.

That would be a far more constructive sentence for everyone concerned than compounding this disaster with a prison sentence.