U.S. wants Scouts held liable in $12M wildfire

The U.S. government is asking a federal judge to find the Boy Scouts of America's Great Salt Lake Council liable for sparking a 2002 wildfire that consumed more than 14,000 acres and cost more than $12 million to suppress and rehabilitate the area.

The ruling could put the BSA in Utah on the hook for the $12 million.

However, attorneys for BSA's Great Salt Lake Council say they would rather have a jury decide than the court.

In a hearing on Thursday for the government's motion for summary judgment, Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Overby said the evidence clearly shows that a group of Scouts from Camp Tomahawk caused the fire that burned 14,208 acres of federal, state and private lands in the Uintas.

Overby pointed out that a U.S. Forest Service fire investigator pinpointed the origin of the June 2002 fire to the area where some Scouts had stayed overnight.

The government claims the Great Salt Lake Council was negligent in letting a group of some 17 Scouts, ages 12 through 14, set up a remote camp with no adults and two 15-year-olds supervising the outing. During June, advisories were sent out, including to the media, about a ban on most fires because of the dry conditions. In spite of that, Overby pointed to deposition testimony from Scouts that showed they were playing with fire at the time, even lighting "bug spray like a torch and.... torch(ing) the spiders." A younger Scout testified they talked one of the older 15-year-olds into lighting a fire "after they gave the counselor some candy."

The Scouts also testified that they thought they had put the fire out by dumping a cup of water on it, throwing dirt on it and urinating on it. Overby pointed out that the Scout's own manual says fires must be put out by dousing it with water and dirt and mixing the ashes. A Scout testified he didn't want to mix the fire because others had urinated on it.

BSA attorney Robert Wallace pointed out that the Scouts had slept near the fire site overnight and also testified feeling no heat and smelling no smoke.

Wallace said the evidence is not conclusive that the Scouts sparked what has been called the "East Fork Fire" and suggested that the Forest Service's investigator could be wrong.

U.S. District Judge Tena Campbell said she had trouble with Wallace's assertion, pointing out that the Scouts have not brought forward any expert testimony of their own to controvert the government's study of the fire.

Taking such evidence to a jury, Campbell said, could only encourage jurors to search for a "phantom cause," which the law does not allow.

The government is seeking a court ruling finding the Great Salt Lake Council liable so they can pursue monetary damages. U.S. Attorney spokeswoman Melodie Rydalch said no matter how the court rules, the case is expected to go to trial next March, where the jury will also determine how much the Scouts are liable for.

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