Scouts Sued for $14m Over Forest Fire

The US government and Utah state are suing the Boy Scouts of America for almost $14m damages for a troop's failure to follow one of the movement's most hallowed rules: putting out the campfire.

The mistake, the suit alleges, began a fire which spread across more than 5,600 hectares (14,000 acres) of forest in Utah, forced the evacuation of camp sites and holiday homes, and took more than 1,100 firefighters to bring under control.

It says that 20 scouts aged between 11 and 14 were left under the supervision of two 15-year-olds in a forested area of the Uinta Mountains in June 2002.

The boys were spending the night in improvised shelters to earn survival badges. For protracted periods they were left entirely unsupervised, the suit says.

The Utah attorney's office says they built several fires on a thick layer of "duff" - dead and decaying woodland debris - and left them smouldering the next morning. Earlier that month the state had banned open fires for the duration of the summer.

Utah law requires people who start bush fires to pay the cost of putting them out.

Paul Warner, the US attorney for the state, said the claim was for $13.3m (£7.3m) for the federal costs of fighting the fire and reclaiming scorched land and $600,000 for costs of the local fire services.

"Everyone thinks the Boy Scouts are a wonderful organisation, but it doesn't exempt them from responsibility for negligent acts," the state attorney's office told the Salt Lake Tribune.

The scouts deny responsibility. Their lawyer, Rob Wallace, said there were unanswered questions about how the fire began and it was possible that people using all-terrain vehicles were to blame.

The federal attorney's office says none was reported in the area at the time.

"We have done everything possible to try and settle this matter," the Utah attorney general's office said.

"This is simply the last resort to make sure taxpayers are not left with the bill."