RENO, nev. — As rain helped crews surround a brush fire that destroyed 29 homes and forced thousands to flee, the family of the blaze’s only known fatality said Saturday that prosecuting the man who admitted to starting it wouldn’t “do any good.”
June Hargis, 93, was found dead in a studio apartment next to her daughter’s home in Washoe Valley, where the fire started Thursday. Sheriff Mike Haley said her cause of death has not been established, so it is not known whether it was fire-related. No other fatalities or major injuries were reported.
Fire officials say an “extremely remorseful” elderly man admitted Friday to accidentally starting the fire when he improperly discarded fireplace ashes outside his home in the valley’s north end.
Hargis’ son, Jim Blueberg, 68, said he didn’t think filing criminal charges against the elderly man “would do any good.”
“The man had the courage to come up and say he did this,” he said. “He’s remorseful. I think he’s punished himself enough. It was a silly, stupid mistake to make, there’s no doubt about that. But I just want him to know I forgive him, and my heart goes out to him.”
Fire officials declared the blaze contained Saturday after a storm brought precipitation that the region hasn’t seen in months. All evacuations were lifted, and U.S. 395 reopened through the 3,200-acre fire zone.
