The Eagle Creek Wildfire Essay The Eagle Creek wildfire was a destructive wildfire in the Columbia River Gorge going from Oregon to Washington. This ended up ruining 48,000 acres, and ended up costing eighteen million dollars to fight. This disastrous fire began within the hands of a fifteen-year-old boy who was with his friends. The boy was throwing firecrackers in to the air, and watching them set off; although, this caused a tragedy when one of the firecrackers had a longer fuse than intended. The fifteen-year- old responsible had cooperated with the police, and he admitted to everything. The boy was charged with 12 misdemeanors; in result, he had completed 1,920 hours of community service, five years of probation, write 152 apology letters…show more content… Outside of the punishments given from the court, the teenager received many death threats towards himself and his family. Also, he had a destroyed self image, and he had to live with his mistake for the rest of his life. I believe that the punishment was enough, and there was justice for both the victims, the town, and the perpetrator. I believe this because the boy and his family had to pay a monumental fee to all the victims, 36 million dollars, the boy had no intentions towards creating the ginormous fire, and lastly he received extra punishment outside of that from the court. The teenage boy was charged with just over thirty-six million dollars for starting the fire, which had ended up costing around eighteen million dollars to put out. While they have made the acknowledgement he cannot pay the full amount, the Oregon law stated the parents could be charged 7,500 dollars per victim for any damage. Which could still end up costing the parents up to 1,140,000 dollars if all 152 victims had decided to cash the offer. This could end up putting the family in a financial crisis. While I do understand the huge impact the widespread fire could have had on the victims I also realize how much of an impact this could potentially have on not only the prosecutor, but the effect it
