CALIFORNIA STATUTES AND CODES
SECTIONS 4165-4170.5
PUBLIC RESOURCES CODE
SECTION 4165-4170.5
4165. Every person is guilty of a misdemeanor who, at a forest
fire, does any of the following:
(a) Disobeys the lawful orders of any public officer or fireman.
(b) Offers any resistance to, or interference with, the lawful
efforts of any fireman or company of firemen to extinguish the fire.
(c) Engages in any disorderly conduct which is calculated to
prevent the fire from being extinguished.
(d) Forbids, prevents, or dissuades others from assisting to
extinguish the fire.
(e) Rides, drives, or propels any vehicle or conveyance upon,
over, or across any firehose or chemical hose which is used by, or in
charge of, any public officer or fireman, or injures or damages in
any manner any such hose or apparatus of any kind which is in use by,
or in charge of, any public officer or fireman.
4166. Every person who violates this article is guilty of a
misdemeanor, which is punishable by a fine of not less than one
hundred dollars ($100) nor more than one thousand dollars ($1,000).
If the defendant refuses, on conviction, to pay the fine, he shall be
confined in the county jail of the county in which conviction is had
for a period not to exceed one day for every five dollars ($5) of
the fine imposed, or may be subject to both such fine and
imprisonment.
4170. Any uncontrolled fire burning on any lands covered wholly or
in part by timber, brush, grass, grain or any other flammable
material, without proper precaution being taken to prevent its spread
notwithstanding the origin of such fire, is a public nuisance by
reason of its menace to life and property.
4170.5. The department or any other duly established fire
protection agency may summarily abate an uncontrolled fire as a
public nuisance by controlling and extinguishing the fire.