Culprits pay little of the cost to fight wild fires

Monday, Oct. 23, 2000 | 4:20 a.m.

But few ever pay a cent.

"We're in the process of reviewing and revising our policies on that," according to Steve Frady, spokesman for the Nevada Division of Forestry.

His agency shows nothing being paid directly to it for the last three years. A spot check of recent Parole and Probation records shows some arson probationers have paid nothing, some have paid a little and some have paid in full.

But the records reported on Monday by the Reno Gazette-Journal do not differentiate between wildland and other fires.

In fiscal year 1997-98, costs of fighting fires for the forestry division totaled $1.2 million. The 1998-99 figure was $2.3 million and in 1999-2000 it was $7 million. Since June 30, the cost has been about $3.8 million. The numbers include firefighting and losses.

When arson is prosecuted, costs are assessed as a condition of probation or parole.

Mental patient Robert Rex Chappell, who set the 1996 Belli Ranch fire that burned 6,700 acres west of Reno, was ordered to pay $2.4 million in restitution.

Now 40, Chappell is serving a sentence of 20 to 60 years for the Washoe County fire. He's unlikely to pay much restitution, said his prosecutor, Chief Deputy District Attorney David Clifton.

Even when a person is on probation, chances of recovering a substantial sum is minimal.

"If they're totally broke and can't pay the money, you can't revoke their probation simply because they're poor," Clifton said.

"That would be the equivalent to a debtors prison, and that would be unconstitutional. You can order them to get a job, but even so, if they can't afford to pay beyond their living expenses and feeding their kids, that's out."

Elizabeth Whittington, whom he prosecuted for starting a 2,000-acre brush fire with fireworks on Peavine Peak in 1992, was ordered to pay $471,274 in restitution while on five years probation. But when her probation ended, she had paid just $2,700 of the sum.

"Any job she was working in was basically a minimum-wage job," Clifton said.

Washoe District Judge Steven Elliott ruled she is still civilly liable for the cost of the blaze.

California officials have a written program for recouping fire-fighting costs, recouping an average of $3 million to $5 million each year, said Karen Terrill, information officer for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

The largest recovery was on the 1990 Campbell fire in Tehama County that burned almost 126,000 acres. The fire was caused by Pacific Gas and Electric Co., which reimbursed the U.S. Forest Service $8 million, Terrill said.