Image Credit: CFJC Today

By Simon Little - Global News

Wildfire Penalty

Cache Creek man on the hook for $500k for burn pile that sparked 2012 wildfire

May 1, 2019 | 12:13 PM

CACHE CREEK, B.C. — A Cache Creek man has been slapped with a half-million-dollar fine after being determined responsible for a massive 2012 wildfire in the B.C. Interior.

But the hefty levy is nearly half the initial fine Brian Cecil Parke was assessed.

A 2017 order penned by Prince George Fire Centre manager Les Husband found Parke responsible for the 2012 Pavilion Lake fire, and orders him to pay the full $921,957 costs of extinguishing the blaze.

According to the order, Parke had lit a burn pile on his property on April 8, but acknowledged he left the property while it was still smouldering in the middle.

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A wildfire was subsequently reported on May 12, and was not fully extinguished until Sept. 1.

Parke appealed the order, arguing that there wasn’t enough evidence to prove he started the fire and that the province had not tried to collect costs from him for more than three years after the blaze.

His appeal also argued he wasn’t given a fair chance to respond to the claim and that he had “gone ‘above and beyond’ what a reasonable person would do to prevent a fire from escaping the burn pile.”

Parke and the government agreed to settle the appeal through the Forest Appeals Commission.

Earlier this month the commission upheld Parke’s liability in the fire, but slashed his fine to $500,162.