Sheriff Says 10 People Thought to be Responsible for Tea Fire

» Br. Joseph Brown, OHC on 11.18.08 @ 06:42 PM

If this is true, then it is very difficult for me to process the feelings.  I was one of the monks at Mount Calvary Monastery.  It was my home and the spiritual home of literally tens of thousands of people from around the world.  Priceless works or art, books, historical treasures pertaining to the Order, archives and all of my personal possessions of the monks were lost.  And this is the point at which being a Christian Monastic reaches its very core.  I have to forgive these young people, AND do all that I can to help them.  If I am unable to do that, then my habit, and my place in the monastery was a sham.  That is what Christianity is, not Yes on Prop 8, not Faldwell or Dobson.  It is forgiveness and reaching out to those who have hurt us.  If as a monk I am unable to do that, then I did not deserve to live at Mount Calvary.

» huh? on 11.18.08 @ 07:55 PM

No malicous intent - is that sort of like manslaughter? The entire Los Padres National Forest has been closed to all open fires for many months for good reason.

» sbnative on 11.18.08 @ 08:28 PM

Agree with Meltzer only this shows a CRIMINAL level of stupidity—just like killing someone while drunk driving. Until penalties for arson - be it “accidental” or malicious - are increased this will keep happening. For those of us who live in fire-prone areas that is just not acceptable.

» Stacy Bloodworth on 11.19.08 @ 03:19 AM

Wow! What do you do in a situation like this. It was obviously unintentional and possibly a mistake that many people could make, yet so many homes are ruined and lives disrupted. Not to mention the people who were critically injured. It will be interesting to know if the anonymous tip was actually one of the kids who noticed the fire burning and called. I think alot of people may feel a little better knowing they didn’t just completely ignore it and tried to call for help.  Certainly a message for people to pay more attention and be responsible for their actions.

» Art on 11.19.08 @ 04:54 AM

“...  the $5 million Tea Fire…”
I wonder how they figure the fire was only $5 mil when 210 homes, plus the Monastery plus part of Westmont were destroyed. At $1 mil pre house it would be over $200 mil.
So perhaps the number is $500 mil vs. $5 mil…???

[Editor’s note: That figure is only the official firefighting cost as overall damage estimates are still being compiled. We explained that in an earlier story but didn’t make the distinction in this one. Our apologies.]

» ginna Graham on 11.19.08 @ 05:02 AM

Brother Brown and my other friends from the Mount. I have wanted to contact you all and have wondered where you are. I spent a few years at the Mount caring for the house. I know every little inch of that house and have been horrified to think it is all gone.
My prayers are with you all at this time. Please let Father William Brown and Father Robert Hagler that I would love to contact them to loan a thought and prayer of support-
Ginna
Michael Lannon’s daughter

» little birdie on 11.19.08 @ 06:22 AM

little birdie heard they are SBCC students, not Westmont

» C. Demachkie on 11.19.08 @ 06:55 AM

Stupidity doesn’t even begin to cover it.  The Tea Garden is on private property and these kids trespassed intentionally - they had to breach a chainlink fence that is clearly marked to stay out.  And they started a fire??  That’s criminal in and of itself.  Add to that, the absolute devastation they brought on innocent people.  How about the couple that are fighting for their lives at the Burn Center right now?  How about all the animals that lost their lives - family pets as well as wildlife?  How about all the people who lost EVERYTHING but the shirts on their backs, and the many others who have been displaced?  How about all our firefighters who put their lives on the line to defend our citizens, their homes and property?  I am sickened.  Regardless of what the DA decides to do, these kids owe a public apology and I agree with Robert Meltzer that they need to commit themselves to significant public service for every person they hurt. What an outrage.

» kid on 11.19.08 @ 07:18 AM

Even if the kids are not charged their lives are forever changed… imagine the guilt of knowing that you DISTROYED peoples live and almost kill some in the process. I will be praying for those families who are affected and the kids that started the fire.

» kat on 11.19.08 @ 07:31 AM

Why did it take an “anonymous tip” to identify the wrongdoers? Shouldn’t the students have come forward and identified themselves? This is the equivalent of a hit-and-run - there are deaths and critical injuries involved—and they should be fully prosecuted as criminals.

» Born and Raised Local on 11.19.08 @ 08:19 AM

This is truly heartbreaking on so many levels.  But, once again, we as a community will come together and help carry those who have been hurt, damaged and fallen.
I look back to my youth and can only reflect on “If not for the grace of God go I.”
The guilt these young pople will have to live with, the agony those who have lost everything will have to endure
and the pain of witnessing loved ones suffer, all require us as a community to band together in order for us to move on.  These youths need to stand in the light of integrity, ask for forgivness and live the rest of their lives at making this world a better place.

» Just thinking on 11.19.08 @ 08:32 AM

The Montecito Planning Commission with NIMBY’s yamering from every corner rejected a plan by the owners of the Tea Garden to rebuild.  If approved, it would be occupied, and if occupied no one would be there unwatched.  Something to think about.

When we deny the right of property owners to use their property, there are many prices we pay, never thought this would be one but it is -

» DougL on 11.19.08 @ 08:55 AM

The school the kids attend should have provided them with important information about the area, especially the danger of wildfires.  Did it?

Of course everyone should know that fires are an extreme danger in this area, but we aren’t born knowing that, and we even need to be reminded from time to time.  Kids raised in this area probably learn it by reading and hearing stories about it while they are growing up, but it’s likely that in this case some of the kids who started the fire did not grow up here.

» Sycamore Canyon Resident on 11.19.08 @ 09:25 AM

No one has yet reported the irreparable impacts to 10 homeowners in the Conejo landslide area who are being told by the City they can not even rebuild!  The City Council needs to show some leadership and either find the money to stabilize the hillside these 50 year old homes were on or to somehow find an acceptable liability waiver methodology to allow them to rebuild. Perhaps the parents of these students could start a legal relief fund for these catastrophic victims.

» Telford Work on 11.19.08 @ 10:09 AM

For what it’s worth, the Los Angeles Times article on the bonfire included this:

“Nancy Phinney, a Westmont spokeswoman, said the college did not think that any of its students were involved. The school lost several buildings and 14 faculty homes in the fire. ‘We have been working closely and cooperating fully with fire officials and at no point has anyone said that any of our students have been implicated,’ Phinney said.” Westmont’s website also has a statement to that effect.

You know, the problem isn’t one school or another. The problem is that not enough young people nowadays understand fire safety. As a father and leader in an area Scout troop, what I would love to see is a Santa Barbara High School District-wide initiative to educate all our junior high and high school students about the basics: when and where not to light a fire, how to prepare a fire area, how to extinguish fires properly, and the like. We teach our new Scouts this stuff right away. Kids who don’t camp need the same skills if they’re even going to be tempted to do this kind of thing. If only one or two of those ten kids had the knowledge, the fire might have been put out properly; or better still, it might never have been lit in the first place.

And yes, as someone who teaches at Westmont, I’d like our students to know these things too. Many camped and hiked growing up, but many others didn’t. Whether it’s a late night party, a campfire, a cigarette, a barbecue, or a power tool that sparks, it’s a hazard that needs to be respected.

After a few years of fire safety ed, we would have a much better educated population and a safer Santa Barbara.

» Loving Mother on 11.19.08 @ 12:10 PM

Thanks Br. Joseph for your post.  I hope many will heed your words and learn to forgive.  Yes, these kids were wrong, very wrong, and I would hope they feel a lot of guilt. As to why they did not come forward voluntarily?  I am sure they were terrified at the prospect of what they had done.  How many of you would have stepped forward and said “Yes, I am the guilty party, I was careless and started the fire?”.  I would doubt many of you would have if you are honest with yourselves.  I will forgive these kids and hope there is some kind of price they have to pay, such as community service, but I would hope they are not sent to jail or prison for this. Would you want your child to be punished in that way?  I would not.  Yes, punish them and make them pay back in some way.

» Loving Mother on 11.19.08 @ 01:24 PM

Thanks Br. Joseph for your post.  I hope many will heed your words and learn to forgive.  Yes, these kids were wrong, very wrong, and I would hope they feel a lot of guilt. As to why they did not come forward voluntarily?  I am sure they were terrified at the prospect of what they had done.  How many of you would have stepped forward and said “Yes, I am the guilty party, I was careless and started the fire?”.  I would doubt many of you would have if you are honest with yourselves.  I will forgive these kids and hope there is some kind of price they have to pay, such as community service, but I would hope they are not sent to jail or prison for this. Would you want your child to be punished in that way?  I would not.  Yes, punish them and make them pay back in some way.

» Loving Mother on 11.19.08 @ 01:26 PM

Thanks Br. Joseph for your post.  I hope many will heed your words and learn to forgive.  Yes, these kids were wrong, very wrong, and I would hope they feel a lot of guilt. As to why they did not come forward voluntarily?  I am sure they were terrified at the prospect of what they had done.  How many of you would have stepped forward and said “Yes, I am the guilty party, I was careless and started the fire?”.  I would doubt many of you would have if you are honest with yourselves.  I will forgive these kids and hope there is some kind of price they have to pay, such as community service, but I would hope they are not sent to jail or prison for this. Would you want your child to be punished in that way?  I would not.  Yes, punish them and make them pay back in some way.

» Cheryn English on 11.19.08 @ 03:38 PM

To err is human, forgiveness divine, but if these were not white Westmont kids, the book would be thrown at them, jail time and penalties.  The sherriff took awhile to decide on forgiveness for the Mexican workers who accidentally set off the Zaca fire.  I think months of community service not good enough for penance, should be years of community service, penalties, parole for five years and no associating with people who have bonfires!

» Mike on 11.19.08 @ 05:55 PM

How irresponsible of Sheriff Brown to link this group to a school. Starting rumors and giving cause to finger pointing without releasing facts in very wrong!

» Magarita G on 11.19.08 @ 10:41 PM

Please stop.
Let’s just try to regain peace in our hearts.
Do not play the blaming game.
It is already hard enough as it is, why should we want to span the suffering even more?
Why mention, the Mexican, the Christian, the white students, the. .. whatever. 
This is a tragedy and tragedies come to our lives to change us for the better, maybe we, the adults, need to take better care of our community and of our kids.
Think for a second if you are one of the persons affected or if you are not, do you have a 19 or a 21 year old child? What would you do to him/her if it were one of the ones who accidentally began the fire?
How would you punish him/her enough to pay for what all those people and everyone around them is suffering and have lost?  How much suffering from those 10 kids would be enough for them to pay?  If you were the parent what would you do to your child?
Do you really think that what happened can be repay, nothing will ever be the same nor for those kids, nor for anybody in Santa Barbara, but we can learn from this, and have more precautions, prepare our community better, we can work united doing our best to avoid tragedies like this one.
I have a 19 year old child, and no, she did not begin the fire, but I could only imagine it could happen to any of us.
It is so hard not to cry when thinking of all the damage and all the people whose lives have been irremediably changed.  I cannot even fancy what those kids are going through learning that not even knowing everything that has happened and all that will continue happening for long time—life time, it happened because of them, even more, knowing the anger and the intensity or revenge thoughts concerning them. We are all victims, we are all suffering, and we are all affected. Let’s be in peace, let’s be in love.
MG

» Kim Miller on 11.22.08 @ 08:28 AM

The workers who accidentally started the Zaca fire as part of road work were, I would think, less culpable than those who intentionally light a bonfire in a no-fire zone.

That said, Margarita G. & others are right to practice forgiveness and compassion.

I also agree with the Scoutmaster: A bonfire can be properly put out if young people are well trained, experienced, and alert. Our community needs to focus on educating our children in real, age-appropriate fire safety.

For young children, obviously that means “don’t play with matches, stay away from fire”.  Older children should be taught, and practice, how to build a fire and put it out properly. Right now there is a big gap in that second phase of education; young people are supposed to go directly from “Don’t touch matches” to being an expert on fires, often with no or little training.

What the Scouts (and other programs, such as the YMCA) do to connect people to the wilderness and outdoor experience is invaluable, not just from the practical viewpoint of fire and water safety, but for many other excellent reasons as well.  All of our community’s children need this hands-on, practical education.

The question is, in what venue? Schools are overloaded with state educational standards to teach, and many parents may not have the time or skill. Someday, we need to figure this out.

» Goodfolk83 on 11.23.08 @ 10:57 AM

If you do not wish to reveal the school the students are from,at least take Westmont off the hook.  You drop the notion that it could be Westmont in your article, but according to KEYT the students are from another school.

[Editor’s note: At no time did Noozhawk’s reporting indicate Westmont students were involved. We debated whether to even include the law enforcement mention of Westmont but ultimately decided that, because of the proximity to campus, our readers would draw the conclusion even if we did not. Click here for more information.]

» Concern Citizen on 11.25.08 @ 08:24 AM

I agree with Motormouth comments,why are they keeping it hush hush if it would of been other youths…..their names would of been all over the news.  What’s the big secret expose them and make them accountable for their actions!!!

» Kate on 11.29.08 @ 02:57 PM

No need to prosecute, no need to disclose their identities.  What the authories SHOULD do - is hold the adults accountable. The students - regardless of where they come from - should take a year off from school & help the people whose lives they have affected forever.  There is much to be done now to rebuild their lives; there are properties to be cleaned up, clothes to be bought, insurance matters to be taken care of, furnitures to replace.  Seems there is much physical labor that can be done around the properties to help the victims who have so much to deal with right now.  We have 10 able & “response - able” bodies who should be compelled to be responsible for their actions.  The victims know more than I how they can help.