By Michael Howell
Three young men were formally charged in Ravalli County Justice Court last week with felony and misdemeanor violations connected with the Roaring Lion Fire.
Ravalli County Attorney Bill Fulbright has filed allegations of negligent arson, both felony and misdemeanor violations, against four individuals – three of them 18-year old males from Hamilton and the fourth, a 16 year old juvenile girl – believed to have been involved in building the campfire that has been identified as the source of ignition of the Roaring Lion Fire last July. Court documents state that by August the fire was estimated to have burned 8,465 acres, including the destruction of an estimated 16 residences and 49 outbuildings in the evacuated areas. At the time, the estimated suppression costs were $9.1 million, at present the estimated cost is closer to $11 million.
Affidavits of probable cause were entered in Justice Court on Thursday, October 27, against the three young men, Steven Banks, Tyler Landon Johnson and Cody William Knez, alleging violation of both felony and misdemeanor charges of negligent arson “by purposely or knowingly starting a fire on public property, and thereby negligently causing a fire that placed other persons in danger of death or serious bodily injury.” On October 28, a motion for leave to file a petition and affidavit of support was filed in Ravalli County District Court against the 16 year-old female juvenile alleging similar charges of both felony and misdemeanor, negligent arson.
In each affidavit, Fulbright gives an account of the fire, beginning in the afternoon hours of July 31, 2016 when US Forest Service personnel and all fire departments in Ravalli County responded and began fire suppression efforts. He notes that a large number of residents in the path of the fire had to be evacuated on an emergency basis.
“Law enforcement personnel, conducting the evacuations in the path of the fire, and firefighters conducting suppression efforts on the volatile fire, were put in direct danger by the fire,” it states in the filing documents.
A joint investigation into the origin and cause of the fire was led by USFS Special Agent Josh Oudman and Ravalli County Sheriff’s Office Detective Sgt. Matt Cashell.
In the charging documents it states that the first reports of smoke coming from the Roaring Lion area were received at Ravalli County Dispatch at 2:20 p.m. on the afternoon of July 31. A US Forest Service helicopter responded immediately and the GPS coordinates of the fire were recorded. The helicopter then began dropping buckets of water on the fire in suppression efforts.
Despite these efforts, 22 minutes later the helicopter personnel were reporting that the fire had spread to 20 acres. Then, 24 minutes later, the fire was reported to be between 400 to 500 acres in size. As the fire continued to grow, airborne personnel reported the fire leap-frogging a quarter mile ahead of the main fire, with those spot fires growing to five acres in size within seven minutes.
On August 2, investigators observed what appeared to be a campfire ring and “other evidence of recent human presence” at the scene, primarily trash.
One item of evidence linking the four individuals to the campsite was a photograph posted on Instagram on July 28, of the same campfire site with a fire burning and a dome tent pitched in the background with a machete visible. The photo caption read: “Camping is cooler when you do it with the people you love.” The photo was allegedly placed on the internet by the juvenile female and spotted by a Ravalli County Sheriff’s Office investigator. According to the charging documents, the trees and other natural items in the background and foreground of the photo of the campfire are an exact match for the scene of the fire’s origin.
During interviews, all four of the individuals are said to have reported that they had participated in a hiking and camping trip at that location on July 27. There the group dug a hole for a campfire in a previously unused spot, and placed rocks around it to make a ring. They each also claimed that some efforts were made to extinguish the campfire. This included claims that creek water, drinking water and dirt were put on the fire at various times and Johnson claimed to have “felt” the fire in the morning to see if the heat was gone.
Fire investigators located the campfire ring and noted the pit which had been dug about a foot deep into “native combustible material.” They were also able to identify through fire pattern indicators that the campfire ring was the specific origin of the Roaring Lion Fire. Evidence showed a low intensity, or “creeping,” advancing fire spreading east from the campfire ring, ultimately traveling about 200 yards east and downslope where “it was exposed to more wind, a decrease in slope to the east and a more continuous forest canopy with ladder fuels.”
The evidence led investigators to believe “the fire crept through the fine dead fuels (pine needles, duff, and small twigs) for several hours to days, before the passage of the cold front that caused the fire activity observed on July 31, 2016.”
Fire investigators also determined that the campfire pit had not been used by anyone else after the four had left because items which they could be seen purchasing on the 27th in various store security videos were found unburned in the fire pit. Other items of debris found in the area of the campsite also match purchases by the group confirmed by surveillance video and store receipts.
The three men were released on their own recognizance. County Attorney Bill Fulbright asked that the defendants be prohibited from going on Forest Service land. Justice Jim Bailey imposed the prohibition on Banks, who did not object. The other two, at their attorneys’ request, were allowed to visit the forest under supervision and without any fire starting devices such as matches or a lighter.