Costly consequences for causing wildfires

MID-MICHIGAN (WNEM) – The Michigan DNR is emphasizing the need to follow burn ban protocols because those who accidentally start wildfires could end up footing a hefty bill to pay for damages.

“Anytime in Michigan when a fire escapes its containment area you are liable and you are responsible,” said Paul Rogers, a DNR fire prevention specialist.

Before you head out this weekend and light that campfire you’ve been looking forward to, ask yourself: How much are you willing to spend to make that s’more? Small fires can lead to big bills if people allow them to get out of control.

“We charge whoever is found responsible for the fire,” Rogers said. “We charge them for our employee time and for our equipment that we bring out. It’s strictly cost based, so we don’t make any money off from it, but it’s just to help cover the cost of suppressing the fire.”

Rogers said the person who caused the wildfire in Grayling could be on the hook for several hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Larger fires, like the Wilderness Trail fire, mean law enforcement will be heavily involved.

“We have trained wildland fire investigators that can trace it back to a cause. And once a cause is determined where it happened, then we involve our law enforcement division, and they will do the interviewing and work with the prosecutors on filing the appropriate charges,” Rogers said.

A person could also face criminal charges.

“Heaven forbid somebody actually is killed and it’s something like that, someone’s seriously injured, then that’s up to the prosecutor again also,” Rogers said.

The DNR said conditions in Michigan are so dry that a fire can spread in a matter of minutes.

“The Grayling fire got to 10 acres rather quickly, but from the time it was 10 acres to the time it was 20 acres took five minutes. That was the estimate from the pilot,” said Patrick Ertel, a DNR public information officer.

The DNR said when you go out this weekend, be aware of the conditions of where you are heading before you think about doing anything that could cause a fire.

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