Losing control of a campfire at US Forest Service Campsite Expensive

A 64 year old man from Washington D.C has been indicted for allowing a campfire to get out of control and start the largest fire in the last 80 years of Minnesota’s history. The defendant was camping in the Ham Lake Campground in Superior National Forest just outside of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. The fire burned 75000 acres costing $11 million to battle and destroyed 150 buildings.

The defendant is charged with one count of setting timber afire, one count of leaving a fire unattended and unextinguished and one count of giving false information to a USFS officer. The charge of setting timber afire is a felony with a possible 5 year jail term. The remaining counts are misdemeanors.

See Camper indicted 18 months after most expensive, destructive Minnesota fire in 80 years