The man whose debris burning has been linked to the Highway 31 fire in North Myrtle Beach, SC pleaded guilty to two charges on Wednesday. Mark Torchi reached an agreement with prosecutors and was fined $262 for not notifying the South Carolina Forestry Commission about the burn, and $470 for allowing a fire to spread to another person’s land.
The Highway 31 fire in Horry County, which started on April 22, 2009 was the largest in the state’s history. It burned 19,000 acres, caused $20 million in damges, destroyed 76 homes, and damaged 96 others.
Mr. Torchi’s attorney said his client takes no responsibility for the ignition of the wildfire. However, the Forestry Commission has said the wildfire was most likely the result of the rekindling of Mr. Torchi’s debris burning.
Horry County Fire Rescue responded twice to Mr. Torchi’s debris burning on April 18 when his burn pile got out of control.
During the suppression of the fire two tractor plow operators were burned over.
Does anyone else want to know why the FD responded twice?
What was their action the first time? Did they tell him to put it out? Did they stay to make sure he did? Did they just foam it and walk away without mopping it up?
In Oregon we have the same probelm with FD’s not instructing folks on HOW to PROPERLY extinguish their fire. I have been in court twice defending tickets i wrote to folks who had the FD tell them to put out their illegal fire, not follow up, and then had their fire escape to threaten neighbors homes and timber.
And yes i laughed hard at the name…
I’m sorry…Mr. Torchi? Doesn’t any body else find this funny?