Out-of-control fire puts Nutting under spotlight
By CBS-13
SOMERSET -– There is more potential trouble for an El Dorado County supervisor who’s already facing several felony charges. Fire investigators are now looking into how the fire started last week on Ray Nutting’s property and burned out of control.
The blaze broke out Friday afternoon on land owned by Nutting, which is near Somerset. CalFire says extreme winds, with gusts up to 60 mph, helped spread the flames approximately 5 acres. And it took them four hours to get it under control.
In March, Nutting gave us a tour of his timber ranch and showed us how he used thousands of dollars in taxpayer money to reduce the threat of fires by burning off debris.
“The more we do this in the forest, the less catastrophic fires we have,” said Nutting.
But that kind of work is the suspected cause of the Nov. 22 fire. Nutting tells CBS13 he burned off several debris piles during a rainstorm early last week and blames Friday’s strong winds for re-igniting them.
El Dorado County DA Investigator Dave Stevenson says that’s no excuse.