Logging company to pay record $122.5M in damages over 2007 California wildfire

[joeybee12]

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Logging company Sierra Pacific Industries agreed to pay the United States $122.5 million in damages to settle a lawsuit over a 2007 wildfire that was among the most devastating in California history, the Department of Justice said on Tuesday.

The settlement is the largest ever received by the United States for damages caused by a wildfire, the so-called Moonlight Fire that charred 65,000 acres in September 2007.

The blaze was sparked by employees of the logging company and a contractor who struck a rock with a bulldozer, prosecutors said, sending sparks into the dry ground on a day the National Weather Service had issued a red flag warning, indicating a high fire danger.

The smoldering fire went unnoticed because the employees skipped a company-required fire patrol, prosecutors said.

http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/07/18/12804544-logging-company-to-pay-record-1225m-in-damages-over-2007-california-wildfire?lite&__utma=14933801.1189205693.1342396185.1342555134.1342605052.12&__utmb=14933801.1.10.1342605052&__utmc=14933801&__utmx=-&__utmz=14933801.1342396185.1.1.utmcsr=(direct)|utmccn=(direct)|utmcmd=(none)&__utmv=14933801.|8=Earned%20By=msnbc%7Ccover=1^12=Landing%20Content=Mixed=1^13=Landing%20Hostname=www.nbcnews.com=1^30=Visit%20Type%20to%20Content=Earned%20to%20Mixed=1&__utmk=253784712


BTW, what's with these HUGE urls that show up when you cut and paste them from your browser from the NEW NBCNews.com?

[BlueToTheBone]

1. that was a terrible fire. We spent weeks

covered in smoke and ash. Going outside wasn't something one did without having to really need to go out.

[turtlerescue1]

2. Said "employee drove 20 miles to get a soda".

How absolutely pathetic. And that Sierra Pacific Ind. "Agreed" to pay, am not sure it should have been accepted.

Its hard to find humor in this, always my goal to find something funny in a tragedy, but there just is none here.