By Donald H. Harrison
SAN DIEGO – County District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis and City Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman announced on Friday, May 16, that there have been arrests for looting and arson as the storm of wildfires continue to burn, with one man dead and over 20,000 acres consumed in San Diego County.
Dumanis and Zimmerman, both members of the local Jewish community, spoke at a news conference with other officials held at the County Operations Center in the Kearny Mesa section of San Diego.
The District Attorney said Isaiah David Silva, 19, and a 17-year-old unidentified juvenile were arrested Thursday evening, May 15, by police in the City of Escondido on suspicion of setting two small fires that were quickly doused. Bail for Silva was set at $50,000, with arraignment scheduled for him and the juvenile at 1;30 p.m., Tuesday, May 20, in Vista Superior Court. Dumanis said the cases of the two would be handled together, although the juvenile faces a lesser potential sentence because of his age.
Additionally, Dumanis announced that a man identified as Alberto Serrato was arrested in the Oceanside area, after two citizens called police to say they saw a man adding brush to an existing fire in the San Luis Rey riverbed area. She said that Serrato was being charged with arson, and, if convicted, could be sentenced to up to seven years in prison under normal circumstances and possibly even longer, under a provision in state law that permits enhancements of sentences in areas that are under a state of emergency.
Dumanis said that the three fires for which arrests were made all were small and were stopped quickly. She said it was still being investigated whether the suspects had any connection to the larger fires which caused mass evacuations throughout the northern regions of the county, and resulted apparently in the death of a man, believed to have been homeless, whose charred body was discovered in the fire that burned through portions of the City of Carlsbad. That man has not been identified.
Chief Zimmerman said that under the county-wide cooperative agreement in which law enforcement officials of the County of San Diego and its 18 incorporated cities work as a team, no matter the boundaries of their municipal jurisdictions, 25 San Diego police officers were assigned on Thursday night to patrol evacuated areas of the City of Escondido.
She said that the San Diego officers observed a car pulling into a driveway in an Escondido area from which civilians had been evacuated. The officers questioned the driver about whether the house was his, and learning it was not, asked whether he knew who lived there. He did not. Meanwhile, they input his identification into a computer and learned that there was an outstanding arrest warrant for criminal theft. The police chief did not disclose the name of the suspect, who was arrested then and there.
“It shows that we are all working together as one team to make sure that all the homes are secure,” she said. “it doesn’t matter what city, we are all working together as a team; we are all in this together.”
Kelly Zombro, a spokesman for the San Diego County Fire Authority, told the news conference that as of 1:30 p.m. Friday, the status of the various major fires in San Diego was as follows:
A new fire at the Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base, near Basilone Road, had burned 20-30 acres.
The Las Pulgas fire, also on the western side of Camp Pendleton, had burned 8,000 acres and was only 5 percent contained. It was expected to be confined to the massive base, he said.
The Tomahawk fire, on the eastern side of Camp Pendleton, had burned 6,500 acres and was 50 percent contained. It was not expected to move from its present condition.
The San Marcos fire had covered 3,018 acres, and was only about 10 percent contained. He said fire fighters were concerned that the fire could move to the south, where there are residences, “but right now the winds are in our favor.”
Deer Springs, near the Interstate 15 – 368 acres burned, 80 percent contained.
Bernardo Fire, within the City of San Diego: 1,548 acres burned, 90 percent contained.
The County’s Emergency website, meanwhile, reported that the Carlsbad fire, also known as the Poinsettia fire, had burned 400 acres and was 85 percent contained.
San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore said he was aware many families that had been evacuated were anxious to return home, but said they should be patient. “There is a specific protocol we go through, especially when there has been structural damage, “ he said. “We go in with utility companies, power and water, to make sure everything is up and running so we are not creating safety hazards. We are working through the protocols as fast as we can.”
Supervisor Dianne Jacob, this year’s chair of the five-member county Board of Supervisors, noted that fire officials had predicted in January that 2014 would be a most dangerous year for wildfires, and said they have been proven correct. She said it is not a question if there will be more fires, but when, because of weather and brush conditions. She urged county residents to have their personal emergency plans in place if they should have to evacuate. She also reminded listeners to the news conference, which was carried over local television, that having 100 yards of brush-free “defensible” space from one’s home can make the difference between whether the home is saved or burns down in a firestorm.
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Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted at donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com