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WORLD> America
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Accused man says SC wildfire not his fault
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-04-25 16:01 "I'm not going to leave my family, I'm not going to go to bed Sunday night, or Saturday night, knowing that something is still burning," Torchi said. "Who's going to go to sleep Saturday night knowing there is a fire?" No criminal charges have been filed, but Torchi is being fined about $760 for starting the weekend yard fire. Horry County Fire Rescue spokesman Todd Cartner initially said his agency did not respond to Torchi's yard fire and later said there are too many potential causes for the initial blaze to be linked to the wildfire.
Saying it's not uncommon for brush fires to appear to be out but then smolder underground and rekindle, Forestry Commission Forest Protection Chief Darryl Jones said the real blame for the blaze belongs to the person who set it. "The fire department didn't start the fire," Jones said. "Someone lit it and somebody let it escape and that's where this all started." Torchi said he's not buying that, and neighbors said blaming him was absurd. "Sunday, Monday and Tuesday goes by," said Al Whittaker, 44. "How come nobody comes by and checks? ... How is this thing coming back on him five days later? It's one of the more twisted, insensible things I've heard." For Torchi, the warm, sunny climate where he brought his wife to raise their family now seems a hostile place despite the South Carolina tourism motto, "Smiling Faces, Beautiful Places." He and Brogan say they fear for their young daughters, who likely attend school with children whose families have lost everything in the fire. "I wish I had never come," he said. "'Beautiful places, smiling faces,' isn't that what gets you here?"
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