Court orders homeless man to pay $101 million dollars for starting fire

55-year-old Steven Emory Butcher has been ordered to pay $101 million dollars for starting two fires that burned 163,000 acres.

Steven will need to pay the judgement on some sort of installment plan considering the fact he is homeless and has no viable means of employment.

The fires started in 2002 and 2006 he was convicted of setting caused more than $78 million in damage

The 2006 fire was the fifth largest fire in California history and injured 18 people, and destroyed 11 structures.

Butcher, who is suffering from suffering from paranoid schizophrenia, alcoholism and depression was also convicted of a 2002 fire that burned 70-acres.

Butcher started the first fire with cigarettes and the second by burning debris in his camp site.

Thom Mrozek a spokesman for the US attorney’s office said his office “wanted to send a message to people that if you’re engaged in this type of activity, you may be held liable.”

He did admit “the likelihood of [Butcher] being able to meet that restitution payment is extremely slim. But we’ll do everything we can to recover whatever we can from him.”

Butcher was found guilty of two felony counts of starting fires and three misdemeanor counts of allowing a fire to escape his control, violating restrictions by building a fire on federal forest land and smoking in a federal forest.

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