Fire-starter's apology sets example for others

[five_alarm]

KAMLOOPS, BC - The flames of the McLure forest fire moved at speeds of up to 150 metres per minute, so fast they were nearly horizontal to the ground. As the fire roared north down the forested valley, flames stabbed 150 metres into the air. Temperatures in the heart of the blaze were estimated to reach 1000 degrees. Ash and burning embers rained down in the towns of McLure, Louis Creek and Barriere. Thick smoke swirled. In the middle of it all, fighting a 21-hour rearguard action through the towns were Barriere volunteer fire department chief Al Kirkwood, Steve Grimaldi of the B.C. forest service and about 35 other firefighters.


Source: Vancouver Sun (http://www.canada.com/search/story.aspx?id=3b58e9b4-9feb-4378-be8e-32d85aee7969&s=19806273.5683383&linkid=112&parent=news)

[five_alarm]

Mike Barre, a volunteer firefighter who started the McLure forest fire that caused $8.2 million damage by carelessly throwing away a cigarette, has admitted his foolishness and said he is remorseful.

Source: Vancouver Sun (http://www.canada.com/search/story.aspx?id=328ce8a1-266e-4a88-838e-2d4b2da6b701&s=27733395.4190002&linkid=128&parent=news)

[five_alarm]

KAMLOOPS, BC - A charge has been laid against a man who admitted accidentally dropping a cigarette that started a wildfire in 2003, forcing thousands to flee and burning scores of houses. Mike Barre was charged with one count of dropping a burning substance within one kilometre of a forest, an offence under B.C.s Forest Practices Code. The information was sworn Monday. Barre, who could not immediately be reached for comment, has not yet appeared in court to answer the charge. The Crown alleges Barre dropped the burning cigarette near McLure, sparking the Aug. 1, 2003, fire that eventually burned more than 26,000 hectares of land and forest across the North Thompson River valley. "There were admissions made by Mr. Barre to several different people and during 911 calls," said Kelly Dahl, a Kamloops conservation officer. Russ Bell, a senior forest protection officer in Kamloops, said its much too early to meaningfully discuss possible outcomes. If a person is found guilty, the provincial statute allows for fines of up to $1 million and three years in prison, but maximum penalties are almost never imposed. The act does not specify minimum penalties.

Source: The Province (http://www.canada.com/vancouver/theprovince/news/story.html?id=1b1ad44a-ac36-4b20-8e4f-614109be4942&linkid=1350&parent=news(headlines)&)

[five_alarm]

KAMLOOPS, BC - Nearly two years after his discarded cigarette ignited a blaze that destroyed 70 homes, incinerated thousands acres of forest and razed the area's primary employer, Mike Barre has the support of the community he almost wiped off the map.

Barre, 51, makes his first appearance in Kamloops Provincial Court on Monday, where he faces a charge under the B.C. Forest Practices Code of dropping a burning substance near a forest, sparking the devastating McLure Fire.

If found guilty, he could be fined up to $1 million and sentenced to as much as three years in jail.


Source: seattlepi.nwsource.com (http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/aplocal_story.asp?category=6420()slug=CAN%20Forest %20Fires&linkid=1482&parent=news(headlines)&)

[five_alarm]

KAMLOOPS, BC – A volunteer firefighter accused of starting the forest fire that destroyed 72 homes around Barriere in 2003 is was in a Kamloops courtroom on Monday.

Michael Barre is charged with dropping a lit substance in the forest in connection with the McLure Forest Fire in 2003.

It was one of the most destructive forest fire in Canadian history – destroying 72 homes, a sawmill, and several businesses.

Source: vancouver.cbc.ca (http://vancouver.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=bc_barriere-fire2050306)

[five_alarm]

KAMLOOPS, BC - The man accused of sparking the McLure-Barriere wildfire north of Kamloops in 2003 is facing a civil lawsuit. A Barriere auto parts business and its owners filed the suit against Mike Barre in B.C. Supreme Court in Kamloops.

The company is seeking general and special damages because the fire destroyed its shop. The suit claims the blaze was "caused by the negligence of the defendant." Several other businesses and homes were lost in the fire, including the Tolko mill at Louis Creek.

Mr. Barre is also facing a criminal charge that he started the fire by dropping a cigarette.

Source: theglobeandmail.com (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20050715/BCBRIEFS15-2/TPNational/Canada)

[five_alarm]

VANCOUVER, BC - To the people of Barriere, Mike Barre is neither villain nor hero. Like his neighbours in the town of 2,000, Mr. Barre's life changed when a forest fire ripped through the outskirts of Barriere two years ago.

The McLure-Barriere fire that destroyed 19,000 hectares and 39 homes and led to millions of dollars in losses left few untouched and was started, police allege, by a careless cigarette dropped on dry ground by Mr. Barre one hot summer evening.

Now, two years later, the town has been rebuilt and Mr. Barre has found redemption among his neighbours. In court today, Mr. Barre will seek the same redemption. He is charged with dropping a burning substance within one kilometre of a forest and if convicted, could face a maximum sentence of one year in jail and a fine of $500,000.

Mr. Barre has pleaded not guilty to the charge.

Source: theglobeandmail.com (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20050907/BCFIRE07/TPNational/TopStories)

[five_alarm]

KAMLOOPS, BC - Mike Barre smoked a cigarette as he walked up the hill behind his house and lit another when he came back down. In between, he butted out his cigarette in the ground at the top of a ridge on his property after considering tossing it into a pit of debris.

In a Kamloops courtroom yesterday, where Mr. Barre is standing trial for dropping a lit substance within one kilometre of a forest, a Crown witness testified the volunteer firefighter admitted he was responsible for igniting the fire.

Witness Joel Birkeland, who was with Mr. Barre on his property checking on potential locations for a satellite dish, told the court he noticed cigarette butts all around the ground of the property.

Source: theglobeandmail.com (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20050908/BCFIRE08/TPNational/Canada) , theglobeandmail.com (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20050909/BCFIRE09/TPNational/Canada)

[web-chief]

KAMLOOPS, B.C. -- The man accused of starting a devastating wildfire in the B.C. Interior in 2003 took the blame too early, his lawyer told a Provincial Court judge yesterday.

Defence lawyer John Hogg said that Mike Barre is "a good guy" who was forthright and honest in the days after the fire started, but he talked too much.

"If he had followed my advice from the start, we wouldn't be here today," Mr. Hogg said.

Mr. Barre, 52, pleaded not guilty to dropping a burning substance within one kilometre of a forest on July 30, 2003, in contravention of British Columbia's Forest Practices Code.

After the defence and Crown wrapped up their cases, Judge William Sundhu said he will give a written decision some time in the coming weeks. A date for the verdict will be fixed Friday.

If convicted, Mr. Barre could face a maximum fine of $1-million and a sentence of three years in prison. The code doesn't specify a minimum.

Mr. Hogg told the judge there are other possible explanations for the wildfire than Mr. Barre's discarded cigarette.

A marijuana grow operation discovered by investigators near where it is believed the fire started suggests the likelihood that other people were roaming about the hillside.

"[A grow-op] brings human activity; it causes people to go up the hill and be there more than they normally would. And not hikers, not mountain bikers," Mr. Hogg said.

Source: Globe and Mail (Full Story) (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20050910/FIRE10/TPNational/Canada) , kamloopsthisweek.com (http://www.kamloopsthisweek.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=15&cat=23&id=489272&more=)

[five_alarm]

KAMLOOPS, BC - A Barriere man accused of sparking the McLure wildfire in 2003 will have to wait a month to learn his fate. A provincial court judge in Kamloops will deliver his verdict in the case against Mike Barre on Oct. 18.

Mr. Barre is accused of accidentally starting the devastating forest fire with a discarded cigarette. More than 70 homes and a sawmill were destroyed.

Source: theglobeandmail.com (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20050917/BCBRIEFS17-3/TPNational/Canada)

[web-chief]

A judge in Kamloops will issue a verdict today on Mike Barre -- the man accused of setting off fires that devastated several communities in B.C.'s Southern Interior.

Barre, 52, is accused of dropping a burning substance within one kilometre of a forest in July 2003.

He admitted in court that the fire started just moments after he stamped out a cigarette on a path behind his house.

Source : CTV.ca (Full Story) (http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20051107/barre_fires_vancouver_051107/20051107?hub=Canada)

[web-chief]

A former firefighter in British Columbia has been found guilty of starting a wildfire that destroyed dozens of houses and tens of thousands of hectares of forest in 2003.
Mike Barre

Provincial court Judge William Sundhu, who handed down his verdict in Kamloops on Monday, said Mike Barre "was not paying attention" when he discarded a cigarette near his house north of Kamloops.

Source : CBC News (Full Story) (http://www.cbc.ca/storyview/MSN/canada/national/2005/11/07/bc-fire-051107.html)

[five_alarm]

KAMLOOPS, BC - A former volunteer firefighter has been fined $3,000 for starting the B.C. wildfire that destroyed 73 homes, and forced 8,500 people to flee from their rural communities north of Kamloops during the long hot summer of 2003.

Mike Barre had been convicted earlier of one count of dropping a burning substance within one kilometre of a forest – an offence under the Forest Practices Code. Barre, a long-time chain smoker, had tossed away a cigarette near his home – which ignited grass and brush. He tried unsuccessfully to put out the fire, and then ran to warn his neighbours.

Source: cbc.ca (http://www.cbc.ca/bc/story/bc_barre-fire20051129.html) , theglobeandmail.com (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20051130/BCFIRE30/TPNational/Canada)

[five_alarm]

BARRIERE, BC - Morgan Freeman, when asked about guilt in the prison movie Shawshank Redemption, responds with a knowing smile: "Don't you know, we're all innocent in here."

How hard we find it to admit we're wrong, without making excuses. Late for work . . . it was the traffic! Forgot a meeting . . . pressure of work. Shifting blame has always been part of human nature. Imagine being responsible for the devastating loss of not just one, but dozens of your neighbours' houses - and all their belongings. How could you excuse it?

It was the summer of 2003, in B.C.'s Interior. The community of Louis Creek, near Barriere, had lived with five months of drought - and was tinder dry. Mike Barre didn't quite stub his cigarette butt out.

Source: canadianchristianity.com (http://www.canadianchristianity.com/cgi-bin/na.cgi?nationalupdates/060302phoenix)