Charges Won’t Be Filed in Brush Fire

No criminal charges will be filed against two ranch workers in the Feb. 10 brush fire in Fallbrook that destroyed 45 homes and burned 5,700 acres, Dist. Atty. Paul Pfingst said Wednesday.

Pfingst said that several days before the fire Francisco Rueda and Luiz Rueda had been issued a North County Fire District permit to burn leaves, grass and brush on Feb. 8. The two did not clear a sufficient area around the fire, as required by the permit, before dousing the flames and quitting work, Pfingst said.

Two days later an unusually strong, hot wind swept through the rural area and ignited the embers, Pfingst said in a letter to the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

“Under these conditions it is unlikely that having a cleared area of 30 feet would have made much difference,” Pfingst wrote.

The fire raced through avocado groves and million-dollar homes. It took hundreds of firefighters nearly two days to extinguish the blaze.

Pfingst wrote that although it is unlikely that a jury would convict the Ruedas of a crime, “it is possible that there may be civil liability on their part, which requires a lower standard of proof.”

The prosecutor said the Ruedas insisted that they checked with the fire district on Feb. 8 and were given permission to use their permit.

Fire officials said they have no record of such a contact and that Feb. 8 had been declared a “no-burn” day because of low humidity and high heat.