By John Scheibe
The Ventura County Star
VENTURA COUNTY, Calif. — Two Ventura County firms have agreed to pay more than $5.4 million as part of compensation to the U.S. Forest Service for the costs of fighting a 2003 wildfire in Piru that burned more than 63,000 acres.
The fire started in the early afternoon of Oct. 23, 2003, near Lake Piru as workers were building a boat launching facility. Workers for Berry Engineering General Contractors Inc., based in Ventura, and Mendez Concrete Inc., a Santa Paula subcontractor, were working on a steel pipe with a cutting tool when sparks flew into nearby brush, starting the fire.
Workers tried to stamp out the fire, but it spread through the brush.
Firefighters were called in, but by 6 a.m. the next day, some 700 acres had burned.
Firefighters soon had the blaze 90 percent contained, but Santa Anas blew in and the fire grew again, eventually burning 63,000 acres before dying out 10 days later. The fire destroyed a home and a commercial property.
As part of the settlement, filed Friday in U.S. District Court, Berry Engineering will pay $5 million to settle a lawsuit brought last year by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Mendez Concrete, which was working on the project for the United Water Conservation District, will pay $447,423.
The payments must be made within two weeks, said Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for Andre Birotte, the U.S. attorney for the Central District of California.
The lawsuit alleged the two firms allowed a worker to use a gas-powered circular saw to cut a bolt from a drainage conduit, setting off sparks that caused the fire. Prosecutors allege the workers should have had a fire extinguisher on site before the fire started.
The two settlements will be paid by insurance companies for the contractors, Mrozek said.
The two firms agreed to the settlement without admitting any wrongdoing, he said.
“Even though the fire was not the result of arson, those responsible must pay the price,” Birotte said in a news release.
Richard Norman, the Ventura attorney who represented Berry Engineering, was out of town Friday and could not be reached for comment.
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