The logging company responsible for starting the Yellow Lake Fire is set to pay a fine. Late last year, the U.S. Forest Service released the results of the investigation of the Yellow Lake Fire that started September 28th and burned 33,173 acres. The conclusion was that the fire was accidentally caused by equipment use associated with a timber sale on the Heber-Kamas Ranger District of the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest. The announcement states that the BAER team will use this information to predict post-fire runoff, erosion, and sedimentation. Areas with moderate to high soil burn severity may experience increased runoff and erosion, particularly during heavy rainfall events. The logging company was working on the Duchesne Ridge Fuelwood Sale, which was a contract with the Forest Service, when the ignition took place. Within the contract it was written that the company’s maximum obligation for an accidental fire is $16,000 dollars. The Yellow Lake Fire was estimated to cost over $20 million dollars to fight.
