Teen Who Started Eagle Creek Fire Making Restitution Payments On ...

HOOD RIVER, Ore. — Few, if any, expected a 15-year-old kid to pay $37 million in restitution, but that was part of the sentencing after the teen admitted to tossing fireworks into the brush in the Columbia River Gorge, starting the Eagle Creek Fire in 2017.

But the Hood River County District Attorney says the young man, now 19, has been making regular monthly payments for years and continues to do so. Since he was a juvenile at the time, the records remain sealed, so it isn't known how much those monthly payments are.

The United States Forest Service is supposed to get $21 million in restitution, the Oregon Department of Transportation more than $12 million, the State Fire Marshal more than $1 million, and Union Pacific Railroad $1 million.

PAST COVERAGE |Judge orders teen charged for starting Eagle Creek Fire to pay $36.6M in restitution

The Chief of the Corbett Fire Department says they haven't seen any restitution money, but that's not surprising.

"Yeah we could definitely use it, and I’m not sure what the people who are getting it are using it for, but we haven’t gotten any money from it," said Dave Flood.

But he's happy to hear that the young man who started the fire is trying to make amends, and believes that he didn't deserve jail time despite the millions of dollars in damage and tens of thousand acres burned.

"I do kind of prefer the community service aspect when it's reasonable negligence or accident. Obviously, the malicious, like southern California, the true fire-setters, the pyromaniacs that intentionally light fires in the worst place to inflict death and harm, obviously jail’s more appropriate for them, or some sort of mental health care. But for youthful indiscretion, and poor judgment, certainly restitution makes a lot more sense. We’re glad he’s doing restitution and doing the best he can, and we wish him well in life."

READ MORE |Columbia Gorge recovering two years after Eagle Creek Fire

Carrie Rasmussen is the Hood River County District Attorney and tells KATU that the young man has completed a good chunk of his sentence of 1,920 hours of community service and 150 letters of apology. After ten years, if the restitution payments are made in a timely manner, and no other crimes are committed, those payments could end.

Teen who started Eagle Creek Fire making restitution payments on time, Hood River DA says (KATU)

"I think he better work harder," says Ernest Edwards, who was living in the Gorge when the fire broke out. "You know, that won’t pay it back, but that will show good character, and that shows change. You gotta crawl before you walk."

"Pay back? All you gotta do is look up on the hillside and see all the fire-dead trees. You pass them everywhere, just over here, everywhere, from one stupid act," says Michael Paige from Portland. "This poor guy, I feel for him, he did something stupid that’s going to be with him for the rest of his life. And it affected a lot of people.I appreciate the fact that he’s stepping up to the plate, and doing something responsible. You know, we’ve all done stupid stuff in our lives, all of us, and some of us got caught and some of us didn’t."

In general, state accountants say few people who owe restitution pay it in full, and less than half make little or no payments at all.