A 24-year-old Eagle-Vail man will be billed $6,000 for accidentally starting a wildland brush fire 6 miles north of Wolcott on May 30, the Eagle County Sheriff’s Office said Friday.
The man, Bryan Ortiz, was also charged with a Class 2 misdemeanor, “firing woods or prairie,” the Sheriff’s Office said in a release.
Investigators said Ortiz accidentally started the fire when he shot off some mortar-type fireworks.
Ortiz and some friends unsuccessfully tried to extinguish the fire and called 911.
The fire was called in about 3:30 p.m. and burned about an acre of federal Bureau of Land Management land. Personnel from the BLM, the U.S. Forest Service and the Greater Eagle Fire Protection District extinguished the fire.
No homes were damaged, and no one was injured.
The $6,000 is to cover expenses of the Eagle Fire Protection District and the BLM, said the Sheriff’s Office.
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
