Santa Clara River bottom homeless encampments focus of arsonist
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula News
Published: August 04, 2006
Two fires at the Santa Clara River bottom that damaged a pair of homeless camps were arson, according to public safety officials.
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula Times
Two fires at the Santa Clara River bottom that damaged a pair of homeless camps were arson, according to public safety officials. Tents, clothing, personal possessions and brush were set on fire at about 11:30 p.m. on Tuesday, according to Santa Paula Interim Fire Chief Kevin Fildes.
The Santa Paula Fire Department and Ventura County Fire Department responded to the riverbed area near the 12th Street bridge, and while on scene “another fire was started several hundred yards southeast of our location,” said Interim Chief Fildes.
The fires - which broke out near the insidious arundo bamboo choking the river bottom area - could have been worse if those living in the homeless encampments had not cleared the areas of brush near their living quarters. “What actually burned was the camps and a little of the bamboo around it,” Interim Chief Fildes noted.
When firefighters and Ventura County Sheriff’s deputies arrived on scene, the camps’ occupants had fled the area - probably because living on the riverbed is illegal, according to VCSD Cpt. Ron Nelson. Since late last year Santa Paula Police and sheriff’s deputies have been dismantling the camps, and in recent weeks several of those living in the river bottom were arrested on various criminal charges, including possession and suspicion of sales of narcotics.
VCSD and Ventura County Fire Department arson investigators hope to talk to the victims, who are not being considered suspects but may have seen the arsonist.
Four engines and water tender responded to the twin locations to extinguish the fires; fire personnel were released from the scene after several hours. “The encampment areas had fires that were confined to about 20 feet by 20 feet, maybe a little bit bigger,” noted Interim Chief Fildes.
Fires that start in the river bottom can be highly dangerous, he added. “The winds can come up and spread those fires through the brush and to homes... there’s a lot of that bamboo in the area and it burns quite rapidly.”
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