Laura

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troutbend
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Laura
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This Oughta Be Good

Life & Events > Wildfire Liability
 

Wildfire Liability

In 2002 there was a huge wildfire in Colorado called the Hayman Fire, $40 million in damages, 133 homes burned, and forced evacuation of 5,340 people. It torched over 138,000 acres and burned across four different counties. It took more than a month to bring it under control.

There was one death caused by an asthma attack a woman had when dense smoke blew into her neighborhood and five fire fighters died in a traffic accident on the way to fight the fire.

A federal forestry officer, Terry Barton, who claimed she was attempting to burn a letter from her estranged husband, set the fire inside a campfire ring within an area designated for no fires due to a severe drought. It took quite a while for this to come out. It was also considered that she wanted attention by starting a fire, so she could be a hero for saving the forest.

Can you imagine how silly this letter story sounded after all the drama and destruction?

A federal grand jury indicted Barton on four felony counts of arson.
Barton ultimately pleaded guilty to the arson charge and was given a six year sentence in federal prison and she was also ordered to reimburse the federal government $14.6 million. The State of Colorado originally sentenced Barton to 12 years in prison to run concurrently with the 6-year federal sentence. However the state sentence was overturned on appeal on grounds that the presiding judge had "the appearance of prejudice" because smoke from the fire motivated him to voluntarily leave his home for one night. In March 2008, Barton was re-sentenced by a different judge to 15 years of probation.

My fondest memory of that fire was a large photograph of a fire survivor and his cat Twitchy that was on the front page of the Rocky Mountain News. The guy was holding Twitchy and wearing cut off shorts and apparently no underwear because we could see his little trouser worm peeking out of the leg hole. It was the talk of the Denver and everyone was trying to get a copy of the newspaper so they could have a good laugh. Every cloud has a silver lining.

Although the last week's fire west of Boulder only burned about 7000 acres, 166 homes were destroyed. Nobody died, fortunately. When I heard it was caused by a volunteer fireman, I thought of these people who start a fire so they can be the hero, but I don't think that was the case. He'd burned off some branches and doused the fire pit with water several days before, and then the wind came up and found some embers.

This other fire that is near me was started by a guy burning twigs and branches on his property. I don't know the details of what day he was doing the burning with respect to when the fire started. Nobody does these things on purpose. So far, 2 houses have been destroyed, some outbuildings, and a motor home with 900 acres burned.

In order for criminal charges to be filed the fire starter has to have acted quite a bit more recklessly and with more intent than these guys did, but they could be fined by the county for burning without a permit and face civil suits.

posted on Sept 14, 2010 12:09 PM ()

Comments:

Your fire was headlined in our paper. Just a tad late I would say. I so
hope you won't have to evacuate.
comment by elderjane on Sept 15, 2010 11:53 AM ()
Once the news people here figured out only the two houses were going to burn down, they lost interest, but the story took a few days to make it around the country.
reply by troutbend on Sept 15, 2010 5:49 PM ()
agree with Aussie girl deliberate lighting of fires that cause the loss of life should carry a murder charge
one fraudster here who was also a volunteer firefighter burnt his business down for the insurance was caught out , his fellow firefighters had to risk their lives to put it out
comment by kevinhere on Sept 15, 2010 3:00 AM ()
I suppose he figured since he was a firefighter he could set the fire so it didn't look like arson. These days, it'd be hard to fool the experts.
reply by troutbend on Sept 15, 2010 8:16 AM ()
we have wildfire seasons in Australia and a few recent ones have been devastating...and most likely than not, they were started by arsonists. I think these people should be charged with murder if people die from the fires they deliberately lit, dont you?
comment by aussiegirl on Sept 14, 2010 11:34 PM ()
Oh, for sure, there should be murder charges brought for intentional fires that cause death.
reply by troutbend on Sept 15, 2010 8:06 AM ()
I have to start editing my posts -- we were on a bus. The other passengers were all looking at him and smiling.
comment by tealstar on Sept 14, 2010 6:24 PM ()
reply by troutbend on Sept 14, 2010 6:49 PM ()
You'd think by now people would be smarter about fire in these vulnerable areas. Trouser worm. I'll have to remember that. I do remember a young man in shorts asleep on a New York City and he had a worm hat was large in repose and at least two inches of it it was peeking out of one side of his shorts while he slept. I didn't have my camera.
comment by tealstar on Sept 14, 2010 6:23 PM ()
Just think, now just about everyone has a cell phone that has a camera. No more lost moments.
reply by troutbend on Sept 14, 2010 6:46 PM ()
I was wondering about that from your last post since there is so much damage...
comment by kristilyn3 on Sept 14, 2010 12:24 PM ()
Many of the neighbors of the guy who caused our current fire say they aren't mad at him, they just wish he'd shown better judgment. They did point out that he is new to the area. The authorities are trying to decide whether to press charges.
reply by troutbend on Sept 14, 2010 6:49 PM ()

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