Homeless man fined $155m for starting fires
New 7:24PM Tuesday Nov 18, 2008

A homeless man has been sentenced to nearly four years in prison and ordered to pay more than US$101 million (A$155.49 million) for starting two fires, including one that burned more than 66,000ha in California two years ago.

Fifty-year-old Steven Emory Butcher was convicted in February of starting blazes in the Los Padres National Forest in 2002 and 2006.

The 2006 fire raged for more than a month and cost more than US$78 million (A$120.08 million) to suppress. It injured 18 people, destroyed 11 structures and was the fifth-largest fire in California history, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

The 2002 blaze burned 28ha.

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