CalFire to bill Nutting for putting out fires
By Peter Hecht, Sacramento Bee
Ray Nutting, the embattled El Dorado County supervisor who collected state money to clear brush from his family ranch, is going to get a bill for causing a wildfire while performing the work.
Nutting, 53, faces four felony charges for failing to properly disclose about $70,000 in income received under two state contracts for clearing his own property for fire prevention. Through his attorney, he has denied any wrongdoing in the case announced Tuesday.
Now, CalFire says it is going to seek restitution from Nutting for unspecified costs of a Jan. 21 fire that erupted from an unattended burn pile on Nutting’s 340-acre timber ranch.
The fire burned 5 acres and required 65 firefighters and inmate crew members to put out. It occurred as Nutting was performing work on his ranch under a third state contract due to pay him another $49,348 once that job is done.
El Dorado County Supervisor Ray Nutting’s problems are escalating. Photo/LTN file
State investigative reports and email correspondence, received by the Bee under a public records request, indicated the fire was the fourth that state crews had responded to on Nutting’s property on Happy Valley Road in Somerset since 2001.
At least three of the fires occurred while Nutting was performing work under California Forest Improvement Program grants given to private property owners to clear vegetation and other fire hazards. On three occasions, he was said to have been burning on “no burn” days set by local air quality officials.
Internal CalFire emails suggest a level of exasperation by agency officials over calls for assistance on Nutting’s property and dealings with the four-term supervisor.
“Yesterday, a fire occurred at the Nutting Ranch,” CalFire Battalion Chief Mark Brunton wrote his superior a day after the Jan. 21 blaze. He added: “Seems like an annual event and somehow I always end up there.”
A separate fire investigator’s report on the incident said Nutting had been burning brush on multiple days during a Jan. 15-22 burning ban set by the El Dorado Air Quality Management District.
The report from fire prevention Battalion Chief Christopher Anthony said hot embers from one of Nutting’s burn piles set off a blaze that jumped a road and burned up a mountainside. Anthony said Nutting told responders he walked off to have some lunch, then returned and “looked up and went, ‘Uh-oh.'”
No one was injured and no structures were damaged in the fire, which required 20 firefighters, 45 inmate hand crew members, five engines, two water tenders and two bulldozers to extinguish.
In his email, Brunton said he told Nutting that day that he would be held responsible. Brunton also wrote that, “During fire suppression activities, Ray Nutting was, to put it bluntly a pain in the rear” by barking orders to firefighters.
“I eventually got face to face with him and had a discussion on responsibilities of the landowner and the fire suppression personnel,” Brunton wrote CalFire’s El Dorado-Amador County unit chief, Mark Kaslin. “This was no different than past experiences with him.”
CalFire spokesman Daniel Berlant said last week the agency will file a claim against Nutting for the firefighting costs – still to be calculated.
“The decision has been made that we’re going to seek civil cost recovery for that fire,” said Berlant, who said investigators concluded that Nutting was negligent.
In emails to CalFire officials, Nutting expressed contrition after the incident – as well as concerns that he could be financially ruined if forced to pick up the firefighting costs.
“I have lost a lot of sleep over this fire that escaped on my ranch,” Nutting wrote in a Jan. 24 email. “As you know, I am being punished with the costs of putting out the fire.”
The supervisor, a longtime timber harvester, wrote that his property had become a “money pit” and he hadn’t sold any timber in 10 years. He said being held liable for the fire would “put my family’s financial stability at risk.”
According to records from the El Dorado County Air Quality Management District, Nutting was ordered to pay a $150 fine for burning on an unauthorized day. He was directed to complete an online safe-burning course.
Even if he ends up paying for the fire itself, Nutting is due for payment if he finishes work under a 2012 forest improvement grant. Under the contract, he is to receive the $49,348 for clearing brush, pruning and thinning out trees and removing flammable bark and wood debris on 277 acres of his ranch.
Nutting was paid $47,425 for brush-clearing and tree-planting work completed on his property in 2003 and $22,423 for work finished in 2009.
The state program is intended to reimburse private property owners to clear brush and remove hazards that can cause wildfires and damage watersheds.
While the grants are routinely awarded whether property owners hire contractors or do their work themselves, Nutting has come under political fire in El Dorado County in recent months for taking taxpayer funds for personal use.
On Tuesday, El Dorado County District Attorney Vern Piersen announced charges against Nutting alleging he broke the law by failing to disclose the state income on statements of economic interest required for public officials.
The charges also alleged that Nutting violated conflict-of-interest laws by failing to recuse himself on votes on county contracts with conservation districts that distribute funds for fire prevention.
Nutting attorney David Weiner called the charges “horse puckey.” He said the supervisor, whom he advised not to comment, made innocent paperwork errors but committed no crime.
Yet while taking state money for fire prevention, Nutting has drawn heat for causing fires.
In 2009, CalFire crews responded to his ranch to put out a 2-acre fire resulting from burning debris on a no-burn day. In 2002, crews extinguished a blaze that started during brush-clearing, a year after they put down a 2001 fire from an unattended burn pile on the Nutting property.
In a 2002 email to a CalFire superior, a state fire investigator noted that Nutting had a bulldozer and water tender on site but lacked sufficient water or easily reached fire hoses for safe on-site burning.
“This is a carbon copy of a problem we had with Ray last year at this time,” the investigator wrote. He said he told Nutting “that we could not continue to drive out there every time an old burn pile went active.”
And some folks in town here are salivating to try and dissolve the city and let these “upstanding” supervisors run OUR town?
WOW!
Biggerpicture:
What I would add to your remark is that most EDC Supervisors don’t give a damn about SLT and pretty much consider this community as part of Nevada. Now would be a really good time for some of our long-time residents to share the institutional history of why SLTs residents wanted, voted for, and got self-governance back in the mid 1960’s. Any takers?
Dissolve City NOW.
The arrogant leaders of El Dorado County did everything they could to stop the formation of the City because, as the Asians so succinctly put it, they’d lose their rice bowl.
I’m old enough to remember the Lowe family and how Pat got herself onto the City Council, and eventually mayor, and did everything she could to undermine the City services.
Husband Captain Dick ran the local Sheriff’s office; his hopes to run for sheriff were dashed when he found himself running a substation, dependent on the newly created South Lake Tahoe Police Department for major assistance. Since Placerville had no intention of financing law enforcement at the Lake above bare minimums.
South Lake Tahoe PD became used to responding to serious crime in the county, since the S.O. was insufficiently staffed – the PD’s crime scene investigation unit solved a number of crimes for EDSO.
Dunno who “Local says” might be, but she’s either ignorant or under the employ of the County conspirators. Or both.
Who ever “Local Says ” is, should leave Tahoe. If you dissolve the City then all of your tax dollars will go and stay in Placerville. What needs to be done is for you to all get your head out of the SAND and elect a Council that puts the Residents first over there own personal agendas, Get rid of Cole, Davis, Swanson, Lane,and Conner and get some fresh blood in the City that will put the locals first.
The City got rid of all of the employees that were good because of budget problems and now they are replacing them with people that know nothing about the needs of the people, you should check the salaries of these new hires.
copper:
Thank you very much for your input. As a short-timer of only 13-years in SLT I’d love to learn more about why those long ago residents believed it was so necessary for SLT to obtain self-governance from EDC. There had to be some really important reasons because something that big doesn’t happen in a vacuum. I invite any individuals that can share information on this topic to please come forward as I personally would like to learn the history of this and think it’s important that others not knowing become enlightened on what was happening that brought this about.
Once again, thank you copper.
Concerned, it isn’t possible to elect a professional council until its a paid position. The city is an $80 million organization and its being run by folks who are barely qualified to manage a McDonalds. Who can afford to work those hours without compensation? We are getting what we pay for. So if that’s not possible, then send it back to the county.
John, I don’t think more money for politicians is the answer.
Look how well it’s worked at the state level, and in D.C., for that matter.
4-mer-usmc says –
Some of the main reasons were that all the roads were either dirt or in awful condition and Placerville was not doing anything about it, the Snow Removal was when they could get to it as they did not have the equipment nor the man power to plow the roads, some times we went for day’s and never saw a plow, My family was lucky because we knew Brownie Piedmont and Moose Sories who were the road foreman and the plow operator and they would always plow us because they new where they could get a drink.
The Sheriffs office was a joke, and we felt we could do a better job than Placerville. And we did in the beginning, the first 10 or 15 years of the City were real productive, then we started getting Council members that had their own agendas and personal wants and things started going down hill to the point where we are now. I must agree with “concerned says” that “Get rid of Cole, Davis, Swanson, Lane,and Conner and get some fresh blood in the City that will put the locals first.”
We need a new outlook in the City and it’s not coming from the current Council or City Manager.
When South Lake Tahoe was formed the West slope of El Dorado County was ranches mines and logging.
Tahoe and the Keys were the happening place to be. The subdivisions and the motels were cranking. The city was formed to keep the tax dollars from flowing to the West slope the way Gardnerville used to take most of the money raised at Stateline.
In 1965 Cameron Park was so sparsely populated my parents taught me how to count by counting the few porch lights that could be seen from hwy 50.
4-mer-usmc – as past President of the Historical Society, I can tell you I talked at length with some of the people who helped form the City. Some of the written documentation is at the museum, if you want to do your own research.
Basically, much of the reason has been stated. Our area up here, now SLT, was primarily ignored for any services for police, fire, or snow removal, and people in Placerville really did not care what happened here.
Before the city formed in 1965 there had been talk about incorporating for a few years. I was just a kid at the time so this may not be the most accurate account, so take it for what it’s worth.
Some folks on So.Shore were complaining about the lack of services coming out of Placerville as they were stretched thin already. SLT was growing fast in the early 60’s, lots of building going on and we still had lots of unpaved roads, sewer and water lines to be installed ,inadaquat snow removal, just a couple of Sherrifs to cover a lot of territory and the county had difficulty in keeping up with demand. Whole neighborhoods were popping up in what seemed like overnight. It was kind of a free for all as I remember it.
So some people from the local business community got together and decided it was time to form the City of South Lake Tahoe. They petitioned the county and after a bit of wrangling, the city was formed.
I just called my Dad about this and he said the town was split over this. Some wanted the city, the other half didn’t. The local business owners with the support of some of the community leaders won out.
Dissolve the city? Recall the city council? A recipe for disaster! Just Remember to vote when there’s a seat up for grabs. We WILL get this place fixed up!
Take Care, Old Long Skiis
Having a city council and city manager that are in touch with the community would be a start. When a Tribune poll shows that 87% of the people do NOT want parking meters at our lake access locations and they (except Tom Davis) move ahead with this $300,000. boondoggle, we have a government that fails expectation utterly.
Thank you to everyone who has responded to my request for historical information! I really appreciate learning about the history of our City and how it came to be and welcome any information that people are willing to share. I suspected that this separation from EDC came about for the purposes of improved services and the information that everyone is sharing bears that out. You guys are the best!
Of course he should pay for the fire fighting costs associated with the fire. If he thinks its part of his subsidy from the government he is wrong. If the fire was on my property and I caused the fire I bet id have to pay for it. This jerk thinks he should get a break, NOT…
Nature, probably you would not pay for it unless there is a finding of negligence, and probably gross negligence. Emergency responders want you to call early if there is a problem rather than waiting because it may cost you money. So there is no disincentive for you to call.
Dissolve City. Why? Our essential services are sub par. Snow removal last winter stunk, know why? The City laid off all snow removal personnel. Attrition rates are sky high, the City is a training ground for all public employees. They waste money on study after study. They could not get the Lakeview Commons bid right the first time, and had to re-issue the RFP, what did that cost? We wont get into the Hole, Hal. These are just some examples.
It is interesting how the times change, I can imagine how politics played a large role in forming the city and what was happening in the 1960’s in regards to the county ignoring SLT has changed dramatically and reversed. I knew the first Police Chief and he did say a lot of strange things were going on with Nevada and how the state line was often ignored by both sides Sheriff’s and he stopped his police force from violating laws by crossing into Nevada for any reason while on duty. There was also the move to form Tahoe County a few years back for these same reasons, now if a vote were held, many in N. Cal would ask the formation of a new state of N. Cal as the area is being ruled by the large Southern Cal cities with nothing in common with N. Cal and today the vote to form a new state would win if conducted today in the northern counties.
John, according to the article above he was negligent with burning and so he should pay the cost of fighting the fire. Just because he is a politician and has some fingers in the subsidy pie dosent mean he is “off the hook” for his mistakes. Like I said, if it were me and I started a fire through my own negligence im sure id pay the cost of fighting the fire. He should too!!!
Nature, the point is there is a difference between a mistake and gross negligence. You keep stating that you would be charged. Probably not. You have to work pretty hard to get charged for fire suppression or rescue costs because the first responders want you to call if you need them. Nutting had to start multiple fires over several years to get charged, you would be treated the same way.
I was reading a longer article about Nutting. It seems this is not the first time, nor the second time the fire department has come to his property to put out fires. It seems that Mr. Nutting has been burning during non burn days for years and simply ignores the law. In addition Mr. Nutting gets a grant to clear fuel woods from his property yearly, almost automatically. Mr. Nutting also voted for the grants for fuel wood clean up. The fire chief said putting out fires at Nutting’s ranch is turning into an annual event. How does this evolve into dissolving the city with a 4 term county supervisor like this?
I believe Ray Nutting should pay for putting out the fire on his property. If this was a one time occurence I’d say no, but several times?, spanning years? You would think Mr. Nutting would have learned from the first time. Along with payment he should do some community service, like working on putting out a few fires with the inmate crew. Maybe then he’ll figure it out… Enjoy your summer fighting fires, Ray Nutting!!
On another topic about how the city was formed, I was told I wasn’t entirely correct. What can I say? I was 8 or 9 years old at the time and wasn’t exactly an ace news reporter. When I called my 89 year old Dad he gave me the info as best as he could remember. The general story I laid out was pretty much like it happened with a few things different.
I was told by the person who called me and did the research that there were 19 people running for our first city council. This guy took the time get documents from the city as well as the county. I stand corrected!
The general story is still the same though, an indifferent attitude from Placerville towards the lake wih poor service to boot. So. Shore was booming so something had to be done. Hence, the City of South Lake Tahoe came into being.
Dissolving the city is not an answer, it’s a reaction because of some failed projects. Lets work with our current council and give them some ideas (I sound like a broken record).
Ken, I would love to hear you explain your ideas for the city and county here on LTN, just like we talked about yesterday on the phone. That would be an interesting debate as you have several good points.
Take care, Old Long Winded
Hey Other Old Curmudgeon,
Thanks for the historical info. And I agree with your remarks that dissolving the City is not a solution but rather a knee-jerk reaction to some failed projects and unhappiness with some Councilmembers that were voted into office by the constituents of this City. We do need to work together, and as one old-dude to another I’ll bet you understand the concept of “You better be careful for what you wish for”, and how frequently that can backfire!
Take care Skiis–
4-mer
Where are the TeaHags squealing about taking personal responsibility for a person’s own bad decisions and stupidity?
Things are different when it’s one of your own, is that it?
If poor Ray Nutting can’t make it on his inherited “ranch” property without a gov’t job and gov’t bailouts he could always get a real job like the rest of us I suppose.
I stand by the premesis that the man needs to pay for the fire he started, ignoreing the law for the day he chose to burn (not just once but several times) and then expecting a government handout which im sure he is against (until the handout is to him)…