Officials say construction crew likely cause of fire
By Daniel Wolowicz camarillo@theacorn.com

BILL SPARKES/Acorn Newspapers HOT, DRY- Construction workers look on as a brush fire threatens an unfinished Camarillo Heights home on the corner of East Highland Drive and San Clemente Way on Monday. Fire investigators say the noontime fire was probably started by the builders while working on the retaining wall against the canyon hill. No homes were lost in the blaze, and no injuries were reported.

A construction crew building a new home in the 1000 block of East Highland Drive in Camarillo may have caused a sixacre brush fire that started Monday around noon, according to fire officials.

Nearly a hundred firefighters and hand crew workers, along with a water-dropping helicopter, saved three homes that border the canyon in the private Camarillo Heights neighborhood.

"The fire department did a great job," said Bill Brontsema, a Realtor with Troop Real Estate who represents one of the unfinished $2 million homes fire crews protected from the blaze.

H.W. Holmes Inc. is building five large houses of between 4,000 and 6,000 square feet along the chaparral-covered canyon. David Costanzo, one of the homeowners, was overseeing construction of his house when the fire started.

Costanzo said the construction crew working on the home that sits directly above his was working with steel rebar beside the brush-covered hill before the fire started.

Capt. Barry Parker, a spokesman for the Ventura County Fire Department, said investigators believe the fire was started by construction workers.

According to witnesses, a smaller fire had been sparked about an hour earlier that day, allegedly by the same construction crew. The workers reportedly put out the flames themselves. Fire officials are investigating whether the first fire caused the second.

Parker said the construction company might be held financially liable for the cost of the fire crews and the helicopter.

Preston Gratiot, a 30year resident of the 500 block of San Clemente Way, said Monday's fire was the third in the past 19 years to threaten homes along the winding street wedged into the sloping canyon. Gratiot said a house was lost to fire nearly 20 years ago.

Costanzo said he hadn't worried that his own home would catch fire- its roof and exterior are made with fire retardant materials- but he was concerned that rain could cause a landslide in the charred canyon.