3 Teens Arrested On Suspicion Of Starting Country Fire

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA — Three teenagers were arrested Tuesday on suspicion of starting a brush fire that burned 28 acres near Westlake High School and caused many homes to be evacuated.

The Ventura County Sheriff’s Department has not released the names of the three teenagers. One was 15, and the other two were 14. They were arrested May 4, cited, and released to their parents, the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office told The Acorn.

Neighbors detained the three teens after they saw them exiting the brush in the area where the fire started last Thursday. Arson investigators from the Ventura County Fire Department arrived and questioned them, and they were arrested.

VCSD Detective Gregg Delarosa told The Acorn that the teens were seen coming out of the brush at the exact same moment the fire department responded to the initial call.

“It was almost simultaneous,” Delarosa said. “Without the public’s swift action, it would have taken us much longer.”

Delarosa said the teens were cooperative, but he did not say whether they confessed to starting the fire, or if they were caught with any fire-starting material.

The County Fire burned 28 acres in the area around Westlake High School on April 29. Residents of Country Valley Road and Via Colinas were evacuated. Thousand Oaks Boulevard was shut down from Lakeview Canyon Road and Via Merida were closed down, and access was cut off from Lakeview Boulevard and Via Merida while crews from Ventura and Los Angeles counties battled the fire from land and air.

By 6 p.m., around two and a half hours after the fire started, the fire was contained, and evacuation orders were lifted about an hour later. Two firefighters sustained minor injuries, and no structures were damaged.

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