Youths Who Started Ojai Blaze Ordered to Make Restitution

The two Ojai teenagers who admitted starting a devastating 4,300-acre brush fire last December were sentenced Thursday to 1,000 hours of community service with the Fire Department, $150 a month each in restitution for at least five years, and five years’ probation.

Brett Schwermer and Jonathan Barrett, both 18, were spared jail time and looked relieved in court Thursday. They declined to comment, but Schwermer said in court: “I wanted to say I’m terribly sorry for the pain I caused the victims and I’m sorry.”

Jim Farley, Barrett’s attorney, argued in court for half the assigned community service hours because he thought that 125 days would preclude his client from working to pay the $150 a month. He also asked that the payment begin after the end of the community service work.

Superior Court Judge Steven Hintz rejected the attorney’s plea, suggesting that the young man get an evening job. “It doesn’t bother me that he won’t have any free time while doing community service,” he said. “This is supposed to be inconvenient.”

Deputy Dist. Atty. Mary Peace agreed with the Probation Department’s suggestions and supported the judge’s decision.

Barrett “could have gotten up to a year in jail,” Peace said. “There was an extreme amount of negligence and an extreme amount of damage done. I think 1,000 hours is more than appropriate.”

Schwermer’s attorney, Jay Johnson, said he wasn’t surprised by the judge’s decision. Both teenagers will be on formal probation for five years and are restricted from seeing each other or using any incendiary devices, including lighters or matches.

After five years, a judge may change their criminal charge to a misdemeanor and revoke the $150 a month repayment, Johnson said. The restitution could be made larger if or when the teenagers make more money, or it could continue at the current amount for 10 years.

The money will go to a fund administered by the Probation Department.

Johnson said that about 20 property owners in Ojai had come forward seeking money.

The fire burned one home to the ground, and Farley said Barrett visited the homeowner for 45 minutes to apologize. Farley said the man was impressed with Barrett’s courage and believed that his remorse was real.

Both attorneys stressed how sorry the teenagers were for starting the fire in Upper Ojai on Dec. 21, 1999. They were playing with illegal fireworks.

Nearly 1,600 firefighters from throughout California worked through Christmas to extinguish the flames, at a cost of nearly $3 million. The blaze caused $2 million in damage.