A 16-year-old is charged with ‘causing a catastrophe’ with a Moab fire that destroyed eight homes

A 16-year-old has been charged by the Grand County attorney’s office with reckless burning and causing a catastrophe in the Cinema Court Fire that ignited along the Pack Creek and burned eight homes in Moab on June 12.

The charges were filed after an investigation by the Grand County Sheriff’s Office and Moab Police Department, according to a Facebook post from the sheriff’s office. The name of the juvenile is not being released.

While the news release doesn’t provide detailed information about the charges, reckless burning can be charged as a class A, B or C misdemeanor. The class A charge carries the most severe potential punishment, of up to a year in jail. A crime can be charged as a class A misdemeanor if property damage from reckless use of fire exceeds $1,500 in value, according to Utah Code.

And a person can be found guilty of causing a catastrophe if he or she “causes widespread injury or damage to” people or their property through an explosion, fire, flood, avalanche, etc. State code says it can be filed as a first- or second-degree felony if the person caused it knowingly or as a misdemeanor if the person caused it recklessly.

Neither the Grand County attorney’s office nor the Grand County Sheriff’s Office responded immediately to requests for more information about the charges Thursday afternoon.

Arson investigators had determined the Cinema Court blaze was “human-caused,” but they had not narrowed down its origin.

The fire, which started in dry brush, moved quickly into a residential neighborhood, where it destroyed eight homes and a few outbuildings, displacing dozens of residents. It was mostly extinguished the next day.

Tina Saunders, who lived with her boyfriend in one of the homes that was destroyed by the fire, said she hopes the teenager learns a lesson but doesn’t think a name needs to be released.

“He’s a minor, and there’s really no reason to throw him into the spotlight and make things more difficult," she said. “There’s really no reason to put him out there and just let him be pummeled with bad remarks and everything else.”

Community volunteers raised more than $99,000, which Saunders said will be split among those whose homes were lost in the blaze. But that won’t even come close to replacing all that was lost, she said.

As for financial restitution from anyone found to be at fault for the fire, Saunders said: “That’s not anything that we’re expecting to receive."

The Salt Lake Tribune will update this story.