U.S. man loses appeal of $2.35M fine for starting wildfire in B.C.

A U.S. Adult male who investigators found potential started a wildfire in a tender ecologic book in B.C.'s Sea-to-Sky region in 2018 has lost an appeal of a $2.35-million fine.

Duffy Damgaard was found, on a balance of probabilities, to have started the so-called Pendrell Island wildfire that burned nearly 660 hectares on East Redonda Island and began on Aug. 24, 2018.

At the time, with tinder-dry conditions across the province and hundreds of active wildfires, the B.C. Wildfire Service had banned Category 2 open fires on the island, referring to a large pile or material fire.

Investigators argued that Damgaard and another passenger on his 14-metre-long vessel, which he had piloted to the area, were the only people near the wildfire when it began that day and circumstantial evidence meant only he could have started it.

Under B.C.'s Wildfire Act, anyone who starts a wildfire is liable for the province's firefighting costs. After factoring in the damage to Crown trees and other resources, the fine added up to $2.35 million in Damgaard's case.

He appealed the fine to B.C.'s Forest Appeals Commission, arguing that the other passenger on the boat could have started the blaze.

But the commission found that Damgaard refused to provide any evidence to support that conclusion and declined to reduce the fine.

"I found that [Damgaard] contravened the Act by failing to comply with the Fire Prohibition Order by lighting an open fire to burn garbage on East [Redonda] Island, on August 24, 2018," reads the decision from commission panel chair Daphne Stancil.

The commission heard that Damgaard was a resident of San Francisco in August 2018, and piloted his vessel to the area of East Redonda Island from Seattle.

The island, located around 150 kilometres northwest of Vancouver, is only accessible by boat, according to the commission decision, with an ecological reserve covering most of the eastern half of it.

On Aug. 24, 2018, three other vessels in addition to Damgaard's were in the area of a cobble beach on the west side of the island.

The commission heard from witnesses on the vessels who testified that Damgaard's vessel was the only one close to the blaze that spread up the hill from the cobble beach around 9:30 p.m. PT that day.

"[A witness] also reported the fire started small at the beach and then it grew much bigger," the commission decision reads.

"He commented that the sight was 'really dramatic:' one tree would light, and then one beside it, as the fire took hold and spread."

A wildfire investigator found that the origin of the blaze was likely garbage being burned on the north edge of the cobble beach.

It was classified as a Category 2 blaze — a fire burning a pile of material no bigger than two metres high and three metres wide.

Communities on edge from B.C. Wildfires

The commission heard that the wildfire, which took days to be declared under control, led to many areas of the forest being completely burned and topsoil being removed.

"[Officials] determined that because burn severity was high in many areas throughout the burn perimeter, regeneration of the forest and the understory would be slow due to a lack of soil and of living trees to provide seeds," the decision reads.

Damgaard argued that the passenger on his boat could have started the fire, and there was no direct evidence that he started the blaze.

But the commission found that he did not co-operate with officials' efforts to investigate the fire afterward and he had not met the burden of proof to overturn the decision.

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