The Los Gatos contractor charged with starting the Summit Fire
will head to his preliminary after the new year.
The Los Gatos contractor charged with starting the Summit Fire will head to preliminary hearing after the new year.
Cal Fire officials pinpointed brush piles at a property on the 31000 block of Summit Road that contractor Channing Verden, 51, was hired to burn as the source of the fire that raged for a week in May 2008, wiping out 4,270 acres and razing 132 structures. Fighting the fire cost more than $12 million. Verden has pleaded not guilty to one count of unlawfully causing a fire with an enhancement for causing multiple structures to burn.
Verden claimed innocence – citing gaps in the district attorney’s reports. As a victim of California wildfires himself, he’d be the last person to set a wildfire, he said.
Verden’s preliminary hearing will begin 8:45 a.m. March 1 in Department 24 at the Hall of Justice in San Jose. He is currently out of custody but faces seven years in prison if convicted, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
