Feds Want Gooding Rancher to Pay for Wildfires

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Federal officials say a Gooding rancher should pay nearly $125,000 for two wildfires they say started because of his negligence.

The Idaho Statesman reports that rancher John Faulkner or his employees conducted prescribed burns that got out of control in 2008 and 2010. Court documents filed Sept. 18 by the U.S. attorney's office in Boise say the Faulkner Fire started in September 2008 and burned 21 acres of U.S. Forest Service Land. It cost $38,000 to contain.

The September 2010 Castle Rock Fire burned 1,000 acres of Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service land. Costs associated with the fire totaled $86,000. Although Faulkner had permits for the prescribed burns, court documents say he burned during windy or dangerous conditions and failed to provide personnel and appropriate equipment for fire control.