No Authority to Halt Burn That Spread, Officials Say

California Department of Forestry officials said Friday that even if they had known of a pending Santa Ana weather condition last weekend, they were powerless to stop a permit holder from “slash” burning and allegedly igniting a 15,800-acre fire that has burned at Palomar Mountain for a week.

Dan Lang, department fire prevention engineer, said from his Sacramento office that most local fire stations and offices are powerless to halt the burning of debris once a permit has been issued. The only time burning can be prevented is if a county Air Pollution Control District orders a “no-burn” day or the Department of Forestry director in Sacramento issues a “red flag” advisory for weather conditions.

“The only thing the local (pollution control) board is concerned with is air quality. If the local board says it’s a no-burn day, we don’t allow burning,” said Lang.

Different Situation

Such was not the case when a permit holder, identified by fire authorities as Rosario Placencia of Pauma Valley, started a fire in an avocado grove and accidentally touched off the mammoth Palomar Mountain fire.

William L. Harville, an Orange County dentist, was identified as the owner of the avocado grove by Capt. John Adkins, who is heading the investigation of the fire.

Placencia told the San Diego Tribune on Friday that his burning did not cause the mountain fire. “I put a lot of water on the flames. I came back and everything was on fire,” the newspaper quoted Placencia as saying.

By 3 p.m. temperatures in the area had shot to as high as 105 degrees and evidently helped re-ignite the embers, while hot Santa Ana winds blew them 70 feet to where the fire began, Adkins said.

Other Permits

According to Adkins and Steven D. Robertson, a Department of Forestry fire prevention supervisor, Placencia has obtained numerous burn permits in the past “with no incidents.”

Both Adkins and Robertson said that the fire was accidental, but that does not necessarily clear Placencia and Harville from liability. The permit was also a contract that bound Placencia to “do everything reasonable and prudent to stop the fire from spreading,” Adkins said.

The case is still under investigation and there is a possibility that misdemeanor criminal charges may be filed against Placencia and Harville, Robertson said. The state will also probably file a civil suit against the two men to force them to pay for some of the cost of fighting the fire, which totaled $1.7 million as of Thursday.

State law also makes a landowner liable when a fire on his property burns out of control.

Harville could not be reached for comment.