Teenagers in Ray May fire ordered to make restitution

The two teenagers who admitted that their campfire got away and started the Ray May fire were ordered to pay $10,000 each in restitution.

District Judge Dave Gamble said the boys can work off some of that money with private landowners.

The restitution was the statutory maximum a parent can be held responsible for in the actions of a juvenile. That $20,000 won't go very far in paying to fight or restore the 3,900-acre fire that's estimated to be the most expensive in Douglas County history.

The boys said they had a campfire near Pine View Estates they said they though they'd extinguished on Aug. 16.

The fire smoldered for hours and when the wind came up, it blew embers into dry brush and started the fire, which claimed 10 structures in the Pine Nuts, including a guest house.

The cost of fighting the fire and rehabilitation has exceeded more than $3 million.

At the height of the blaze, more than 600 firefighters from local, state and federal agencies were on the scene.

The fire was the largest to hit Douglas County in 15 years. Due to inflation, it cost more to fight than the Autumn Hills fire, which destroyed 3,400 acres in the Carson Range and cost $2.5 million to fight. That fire was started by two boys who dipped lizards in gasoline and set them loose in the brush on June 23, 1996.