PROVO — Iron County prosecutors dropped the more severe of two charges against the Taylorsville man accused of accidentally starting the massive Brian Head wildfire in 2017, a move to help ensure the government can recoup firefighting costs that totaled more than $30 million.
Fourth District Judge James Brady granted prosecutors’ request Tuesday to dismiss a charge of reckless burning, a class A misdemeanor, for Robert Ray Lyman, court records show.
Iron County Attorney Chad Dotson said his office backed off the charge after learning a potential conviction would compromise state and federal efforts to recoup money from insurance companies. The charge could also interfere with efforts to make whole those who lost their homes to the blaze, he said.
Intentional, reckless conduct can lead insurers to say a person didn’t honor the contract and avoid paying a claim, Dotson said.
“Insurance is going to be the best course of getting any kind of money paid back, especially when you’re dealing with a misdemeanor,” for which restitution often is minimal and slow to collect, Dotson added. “We don’t want to interfere with the efforts of the state and private people from getting insurance claims honored.”
The U.S. Forest Service referred its effort to reclaim fire suppression costs to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Utah, which has an open civil investigation, spokeswoman Melodie Rydalch confirmed. The Utah Attorney General’s Office also is seeking to recover money spent on fighting the fire, said spokesman Richard Piatt.
Lyman, 63, still faces a lesser charge of burning without a permit, a class B misdemeanor, a charge that wouldn’t hamper the government efforts if he is convicted, according to Dotson.
Some of Lyman’s neighbors also have sued him for damage to their property.
If convicted at the conclusion of a two-day trial in March, the retired basketball coach and teacher at Salt Lake City’s West High School would face up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine. A conviction on the now-dismissed charge would have carried twice the jail time and up to a $2,500 fine.
Lyman had earlier pleaded not guilty to the two charges. His attorney Andrew Deiss could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Lyman is accused of sparking the 2017 blaze that ultimately torched more than 100 square miles and over a dozen homes near the southern Utah resort town of Brian Head.
Contrary to early official statements, the fire did not begin with a weed torch, his attorney has argued. Lyman was using a lighter on June 17, 2017, in an attempt to create a fire break and destroy potential fuel near his cabin, according to Deiss, but the flames spread out of hand.
Lyman was originally charged in Cedar City, but a judge there agreed to transfer the case to a new judicial district after his attorney argued comments on social media and online news stories showed he is hated in Iron County and might not get a fair trial there.
His trial is scheduled for March 12 and 13 in Provo.