A “burn boss” with the U.S. Forest Service is facing unprecedented criminal charges for an escaped prescribed burn in rural Oregon, which may complicate nationwide goals to set low-intensity fires that can thin out excess vegetation and dead wood in overgrown forests to improve forest health and lower the risk of uncontrollable wildfires igniting.

Forest Service employee Ricky Snodgrass, a firefighter who is federally qualified to lead prescribed burn operations, was indicted by a Grant County, Oregon, grand jury for “reckless burning,” a misdemeanor charge punishable by up to a year in prison and a more than $6,000 fine. The indictment stems from the controversial arrest of Snodgrass in October 2022 for a prescribed burn in the Malheur National Forest that jumped its containment lines and burned a few dozen acres of a privately owned ranch. The indictment was first reported by the Blue Mountain Eagle.

Snodgrass was overseeing the 300-acre burn in eastern Oregon when an ember sparked the small wildfire on nearby Windy Point Ranch. Crews quickly snuffed it out. However, in a highly unusual move, Grant County Sheriff Todd McKinley arrested Snodgrass on the spot.

The arrest was widely criticized by firefighters and environmentalists, who worried of a chilling effect on the critical work of setting prescribed burns as scientists call for more operations to protect communities and forests from climate-fueled megafires. Forest Service Chief Randy Moore called it “highly inappropriate.”

Snodgrass is set to appear in Grant County Circuit Court for an arraignment on March 4. 

The indictment is “unbelievable,” said Tim Ingalsbee, executive director of the Oregon-based Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics and Ecology. “It’s an extreme overreach of law enforcement.”

Ingalsbee said the reactions of Forest Service officials will determine whether Snodgrass’s case bruises the movement to return what is often called “good fire” to landscapes and communities. 

“Will they swiftly and vigorously defend their employees?” he asked. 

Locally, the Malheur National Forest is overgrown and at risk of being “destroyed” by a megafire without regular prescribed burning, said Mark Webb, executive director of Blue Mountains Forest Partners, a nonprofit that partners with the Forest Service on resilience projects.

The indictment of Snodgrass “is likely to make it more challenging than it already is to do fire,” he said.

The case takes place in a region of strong anti-government sentiment, where public lands rangers and foresters have faced harassment. In 2016, armed far-right protesters took over a nearby federal wildlife refuge for more than a month. The day of his arrest, Snodgrass had called the sheriff’s department for help managing hostile drivers who were harassing crews, according to the Blue Mountain Eagle. 

Snodgrass is being represented by private attorneys paid by the U.S. Department of Justice, according to Jacque Buchanan, regional forester for the agency’s Pacific Northwest region. 

“Ultimately, I believe the courts will get this case right and will not single out a federal employee for carrying out his official duties,” Buchanan said in a statement. “Our agency is committed to standing behind Ricky and all our team members who responsibly carry out their official duties in accordance within agency protocols.”

Snodgrass could not be reached for comment. 

Low-intensity wildfires and prescribed burns are important for many ecosystems and reduce the dangerous buildup of woody fuels, which blunts the risk of uncontrollable megafires. Prescribed burning is common in the U.S. Southeast but only now making a comeback in western states, such as Oregon, with long histories of fire exclusion. Fire practitioners and foresters have long been frustrated with the Forest Service’s slow and cautious approach to prescribed burning. 

The vast majority of prescribed burns go as planned, but high-profile disasters in New Mexico and Colorado in recent years have eroded public trust in various land-management agencies’ abilities to safely ignite and manage the fires. In October 2022, the operation Snodgrass led in the Malheur National Forest was one of the first the Forest Service allowed after a 90-day pause Moore ordered after two New Mexico burns escaped control and merged into the largest wildfire in state history.

The threat of a lawsuit is a key concern for prescribed fire practitioners, who often have to shoulder the cost of insurance and professional risk if a burn goes wrong. The indictment comes as Oregon is rolling out its own liability protections for burn bosses the state certifies to operate on private land.

Federal firefighters cannot be held personally liable for mistakes they make suppressing wildfires, according to Ingalsbee. That makes a double standard between those who work on prescribed burns and those fighting fires, he said. 

According to the Malheur National Forest, the wind, relative humidity and other conditions were right for the Oct. 19, 2022 prescribed burn operation, which had been planned for years. National forest officials, who oversee a 1.7 million-acre spread of high desert and diverse forests in eastern Oregon, consider prescribed burning their best tool to restore the health of overcrowded stands while “reducing the risk of catastrophic wildfires.”

Firefighters led by Snodgrass planned to burn about 300 acres of forest and meadow before the fire jumped a highway that was containing it and ignited a spot fire at Windy Point Ranch. 

According to the Blue Mountain Eagle, tension between the ranch’s owners and fire crews boiled over as the blaze spread over 20 to 40 acres, and the ranchers also called the sheriff’s office. The fire was still uncontrolled when McKinley arrested and handcuffed Snodgrass, but the rest of the crew was able to snuff it out.

Frances Preston, chair of the Grant County Republican Party, said prescribed burns are an important tool for the Malheur National Forest. However, she said many local residents have “concern for the way it’s been done” that is exacerbated by general distrust of the Forest Service. 

That’s driven in part by the agency’s slow attack on a lightning-sparked fire that spread and destroyed more than 40 structures in 2015. Elsewhere, the agency’s foresters can come off as “arrogant” or unorganized to locals, she said. 

“The Malheur—they’ve sort of let a lot of things go,” Preston said.