A former Highway Patrol trooper already charged with starting the Maeser Highway Fire
on June 9th
has now been charged with starting a second fire in May. According to a Deseret News report, a grand jury determined on Wednesday that there was sufficient evidence to charge 37-year-old Rex Richard Olsen with setting the
May 30th
fire on BLM land in eastern Utah that closed Highway 40 and burned 900 acres. Olsen was first formally charged with Arson on August 8th when the Utah Attorney General’s Office charged Olsen with one count of Second-Degree Felony Arson as well as a second charge for placing a lighted item on a highway/wildland area that sparked the Maeser Highway Fire. According to the charging document, Olsen explained in an interview that he did so to “feel the excitement of it.” The damage caused to property and the expense of responding to and suppressing that fire is more than $800,000 dollars. Further details on the new charge from the
May 30th
fire will be reported once released.
