18 months after the most savage fire in Minnesota in 80 years, a 64-year-old Washington, D.C. man was indicted for allowing his campfire on Ham Lake to blow out of control on a windy day in May. Stephen George Posniak was indicted by a grand jury in a federal court of Minneapolis. The fire cost the state $11 million to battle, destroyed 150 buildings costing millions of dollars, not to mention the environmental cost in terms of the destruction of wildlife and was spread across 75,000 acres of forest land.
The irresponsible camper could face more than five years in prison for the accident apart from which he may have to pay civil damages.
In a similar case in 1995 after a blaze near Saganaga Lake a youth camp director was asked to pay $3.8 million in damages to the government which was reduced to $750,000 after some negotiation.
Pic courtesy Greg Clarke from flickr.com
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