Contractor to stand trial for starting Summit fire in 2008

After a four-day preliminary hearing, a contractor, Channing Verden, will stand trial for starting the Summit fire in 2008 which burned 63 homes and 4,280 acres south of San Jose, California. Verden and his two-person crew cleared private land of trees and brush, stacked it into piles, and then burned them.

Here is an excerpt from an article at MercuryNews.com:

Prosecutors essentially alleged that the burn piles were never put out properly with water. And weeks after the initial burn, wind whipped the burn-pile embers, igniting the massive blaze.

Several Cal Fire officials said in the hearing that they saw burn piles 20 feet wide and 10 feet high.

Channing Verden

Kay Price, a Cal Fire investigator, visited the property on March 25 to informally inspect Verden’s burn piles with an official from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. Napell needed a notification form approved from the district to start burning.

Though Price said Verden already had started burning the dried and “green” logs that were chopped and gathered from the property.

Price said the burn piles were too large and needed to be divided. She said Verden told her he could not separate them because they were already on fire.

“I said someone needed to be in attendance of the piles at all times, and that the piles were too large and that the piles need to be put out by dark,” Price said.

Price also noted that Verden did not have a water truck on the property. Verden told her he was trying to get one. He did at some point have a water truck, which was later found down a canyon near the property. It is unclear how or when it ended up in the canyon.

Price said Verden — who has lived in the Santa Cruz Mountains nearly his entire life — assured her that he had experience with burn piles and would take proper precautions.

Michael Meehan, Verden’s attorney, flipped Price’s testimony to blame Cal Fire.

Why didn’t Price order Verden to douse the fires when she inspected them, Meehan asked.

“This fire is a tragedy for the whole community, but there is no evidence that (Verden) started it,” Meehan said in court.

“Cal Fire should have stepped in and put them out,” Meehan said.

Price testified that the burn piles included dried wood and green wood — which retains heat longer and can smolder for weeks. Why didn’t Price make Verden cure the green wood for 60 days as fire officials recommend, Meehan asked.