4 Teens Avoid Criminal Charges in December Brush Fire

Four teens accused of starting a 600-acre brush fire in Thousand Oaks in December will not face criminal charges, but the county will try to recover $250,000 in firefighting costs from their families, officials said Monday.

The teens were arrested in December on suspicion of negligently causing a fire, after arson investigators determined that the van they drove into heavy brush sparked the blaze.

Prosecutors said the four, all males, were irresponsible when they drove the Dodge Caravan in the hills, but that they did not intend to start a fire.

“The intelligence quotient was not there, but the conduct did not rise to a criminal level,” said Miles Weiss, the supervising prosecutor for juvenile cases.

The fire, which broke out the day after Christmas, swept dangerously close to homes in the rolling hills above the gated North Ranch Country Club Estates. The flames started near Lakeview Canyon Road and came within 100 feet of the condominiums on Via Colinas. There were no injuries and there was no property damage.

Investigators said the van, owned by the mother of one of the teens, got stuck in the dry brush. Three of the teens walked down the hill to look for wood to help dislodge a wheel, while the fourth tried to drive it out of the chaparral. At that point, the van probably became overheated and ignited the brush, investigators said.

The blaze was among several in Ventura County and throughout the state during the last week of the year, when unseasonably warm winds fueled flames that scorched thousands of acres.

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. All four were briefly held in custody and would have faced misdemeanor charges if any had been filed.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Eric Dobroth said it would have been difficult to persuade a jury that the four negligently caused the fire.

“We couldn’t charge Chad [Montagnino] with anything because he wasn’t even at the scene when the fire started,” Dobroth said of the only adult involved. “He was in the area, but he wasn’t behind the wheel or in the van.”

And Weiss said the behavior of the other three was careless, but not criminal. “We’re going to let Mom and Dad take care of them,” he said.

The parents may have to worry about more than punishing their children. The Ventura County Fire Department plans to bill each family for the cost of fighting the fire. More than 600 firefighters from Ventura and Los Angeles counties, along with 40 engines, two helicopters and two air tankers, battled the blaze.

If the families’ insurers do not reimburse the county, the Fire Department will ask the county Board of Supervisors to approve filing a civil lawsuit.

“They were in the wrong place at the wrong time and started a fire, so they are ultimately responsible,” said Sandi Wells, spokeswoman for the Ventura County Fire Department.

Even if the teens or their parents don’t have the money on hand, they could be held liable for the bill, said Chief Assistant County Counsel Noel Klebaum. “If a kid is 16 years old and a judgment is rendered against him, that’s going to be hanging over his head for many years to come,” he said.

The county settled a case two years ago against two teenagers who sparked a 400-acre brush fire while playing with fireworks between Ventura and Santa Paula in 1996. The department sought the entire tab for fighting the fire, $235,000, but eventually settled the case for $115,000.

More recently, the county sued the two teenagers who pleaded guilty to setting off fireworks that sparked a brush fire in Ojai in 1999. The civil case is still pending, but the two teens were ordered in criminal court to pay $150 a month in restitution fees for at least five years, the length of their probation.

The blaze, which became known as the Ranch fire, destroyed one home, burned 4,300 acres of forest land and cost the county an estimated $5 million.

Supervisor Judy Mikels said she doesn’t want to make anybody suffer, but she wants the teens and their parents to take responsibility for the Thousand Oaks fire.

“The taxpayers shouldn’t be asked to pick up the cost for something like this, which was obviously an extreme error in judgment,” Mikels said.