A Los Gatos contractor accused of starting last spring’s Summit
Fire will wait another month to set a date for his preliminary
hearing.
A Los Gatos contractor accused of starting last spring’s Summit Fire will wait another month to set a date for his preliminary hearing.
Channing Verden pleaded not guilty to one count of unlawfully causing a fire with an enhancement for causing multiple structures to burn and will appear in court 9:30 a.m. Aug. 25 in Department 23 at the Hall of Justice in San Jose to set a date for his preliminary hearing. He is currently out of custody but faces seven years in prison if convicted, according to the district attorney’s office.
Cal Fire officials pinpointed brush piles at a property on the 31000 block of Summit Road that Verden 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, however, said he’s innocent – citing gaps in the district attoney’s reports – and that, as a victim of California wildfires himself, he’d be the last person to set a wildfire.
