Ventura County to Bill People Who Start Fires for Cost of Fighting Them

After the most destructive fire season in half a century, the Ventura County Fire Department has adopted a policy of charging those responsible for fires for the costs of putting them out.

The new policy, announced to the county Board of Supervisors last week, covers unincorporated areas of the county and the cities of Camarillo, Thousand Oaks, Ojai, Moorpark and Simi Valley, which contract for fire protection.

“We’re getting back some of the cost to taxpayers that was lost,” said Bob Holaway, assistant fire chief who heads the department’s fire prevention and investigation units.

Cited as legal justification for the cost-recovery program is a section of the California Health and Safety Code that permits local governments to bill those who unlawfully or negligently trigger fires.

Under the plan, the county will bill people who start brush or structure fires if investigators conclude that the fire was caused by gross negligence or arson, even if there are no criminal charges. Those refusing to pay will be taken to court.

Assessed costs will cover overtime pay for extra firefighters needed to man stations while other units battle a fire, extinguishing materials such as foams or chemicals and special expenses such as hiring bulldozers to clear brush, Holaway said.

A section of the California Civil Code limits damage recoveries from parents or guardians of children who deliberately or negligently start a fire to $10,000.

Holaway said that the county recovered $8,700 after two 1985 fires caused by negligence.

Case of Welder

In one case, he said, a welder operating without a Fire Department permit touched off a brush fire in the Hill Canyon area of Thousand Oaks when sparks from the tool hit dry brush. A permit would have required the welder to clear brush from the work area, carry an extinguisher and have another worker watch for signs of fire.

Those who start fires will be billed routinely, Holaway said. He said the department will charge people who violate fire codes or ignore conditions of permits, citing as examples someone throwing a cigarette butt into a fire danger zone or playing with matches around brush.

The county also will bill convicted arsonists in the rare cases in which they have money to pay, Holaway said.

Fire officials said they have no figures for the costs of extinguishing arson and negligence-caused fires last year. Arson and accidents were cited as the cause of many of the Ventura County fires that blackened nearly 200,000 acres, destroyed 13 homes and contributed to one death.

Other Policies

The state Department of Forestry and the U.S. Forest Service have had policies of charging those responsible for setting fires for years, since 1973 in the case of the state.

The Los Angeles city and county fire departments weigh such actions after negligence fires on a case-by-case basis but have collected on few because it is difficult to prove a fire was the result of gross negligence and to find the person responsible, spokesmen for the departments said.