BRIEF: Edison settles dispute with local firefighting agencies 

BRIEF: Edison settles dispute with local firefighting agencies

Nov 21, 2012 (Menafn - Ventura County Star - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --The Ventura County Fire Department and other firefighting agencies will receive 350,000 in a settlement announced Tuesday with Southern California Edison.

The county sued the utility to recover the costs of fighting a 41-acre brush fire in October 2009 in the Thousand Oaks area.

Alberto Boada, litigation supervisor for the county, said the fire started after a malfunctioning overhead part created electrical sparking that fell into vegetation at the base of a power pole.

The county originally sought 407,000.

Other agencies sharing in the settlement are the Ventura City Fire Department, Long Beach Fire Department, Montecito Fire Department and state and federal firefighting agencies.

The Ventura County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the settlement Tuesday.

A spokeswoman for Southern California Edison said no one was injured in the fire and that no structures were burned.

The agreement was reached without an admission of liability, spokeswoman Lauren Bartlett said.

County Fire Chief Mark Lorenzen said the agency was "made whole" in terms of its out-of-pocket costs.

He estimated that hundreds of firefighters responded to the blaze near the Civic Arts Plaza.

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