SAN DIEGO — The State of California wants the parents of two young children to pay more than $675,000 for starting a fire that burned 100 acres in Jamul during a family camp trip in June 2020.
In a newly non-conformed lawsuit from Attorney General Rob Bonta's Office, the state says parents, "Nathan S." and "Joy S." (their last names were not used in the lawsuit) failed to supervise their kids while camping at the Skyline Truck Trail in Jamul.
The Skyline 3 Fire ignited at the Skyline Truck Trail at 1:08 pm on June 11, 2020, and burned for three days, according to CalFire.
According to the state's lawsuit, the fire was started by two children during a family camp-out.
"Joy S. and Nathan S. negligently supervised one or more of their minor children [who then] transferred the campfire to an adjacent vegetated area," reads the lawsuit.
The complaint then says that the parents were unable to put the fire out. It then, according to the lawsuit, "escaped their control and ignited additional vegetation within the vicinity and spread to a neighboring property."
The state says it wasn't the first fire that the parent's children started during the trip.
The lawsuit alleges that one or more of the couple's kids started a fire three days prior by playing with sticks that they used from the family's campfire.
The parents, reads the lawsuit, "had the opportunity and ability to control the conduct of their minor children in their custody and control, and should have recognized the necessity to adequately supervise and monitor their minor children to prevent the very same risk of harm that ultimately led to the Skyline 3 Fire."
The state is asking that the parents pay $675,178 for the cost of fighting the fire and the damage it caused.