Locals easy on man convicted in forest fire

LOUIS CREEK, B. C.—

The old adages about time healing all wounds and forgiving and forgetting seem to hold sway in this tiny community, where the devastation of a massive forest fire two years ago is still almost as evident as if it had burned last month. The cause of the Barriere-McLure forest fire, according to a guilty verdict rendered Monday in provincial court in Kamloops, was Mike Barre, a 52- yearold McLure resident, who dropped a cigarette behind his house. The resulting fire, raging for days, melting equipment and vehicles in its path, destroyed more than 70 homes and businesses and a sawmill and forced hundreds of people to evacuate. It grew to more than 260 square kilometres in size and cost the forest ministry more than $ 31 million to fight.

Despite the devastation, it’s hard to find a person who has a harsh word to say about Barre, who still lives in the area and who will return to court Nov. 29 to hear his sentence, which the Crown has said will likely be a fine in the $ 1,500 range.

Rick Appel, who lost his house, boat and a lot of equipment when the fire tore through his property, organized a petition of support for Barre, generating 1,400 names in an area with a population of about 3,500.

“ He’s suffered a lot and he doesn’t deserve it,” Appel said yesterday.

Appel and some others who talked about the verdict yesterday said they blamed a slow response by the Forests Ministry for the fire getting out of hand.