I have confirmed with a family member that Ross Curtis was arrested yesterday. I was informed that he made bail, and has been released. I was told he was exhausted, so am awaiting a phone call from him today.
This is reported in the San Francisco Chronicle as part of a larger story. See “Big Sur Blaze Rages” here:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/04/BAMT11K717.DTL&tsp=1
Here is the by now infamous 409.5 notice:
And for future reference, the California Public Resources Code, section 4426 provides: “A person shall not set a backfire, or cause a backfire to be set, except under the direct supervision or permission of a state or federal forest officer, unless it can be established that the setting of such backfire was necessary for the purpose of saving life or valuable property.”
Additionally, Chris Counts story about this incident can be found here:
http://www.montereycountyweekly.com/archives/2008/2008-Jul-10/the-inside-story-about-what-went-down-on-apple-pie-ridge/1/@@index
Would it be helpful for concerned citizens to contact the DA’s office?
If so could you provide contact info. Thanks!
Ev, yes, that might help, and I will post the information by Monday. It does no good until then, unfortunately, which is one reason why I felt the MCSO waited until 6 pm on the eve of a 3-day weekend, before releasing the above memo. In the mean time, we are contacting the media, our best source, at the moment.