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Accused man says SC wildfire not his fault
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-04-25 16:01

CONWAY, S.C. -- Marc Torchi and his family have been getting death threats since South Carolina officials blamed him for the wildfire that has destroyed more than 70 homes and scorched 31 square miles, causing an estimated $16 million in damage.

But Torchi is flabbergasted that county firefighters aren't taking responsibility after they came to his Conway home not once but twice to put out a small yard fire that apparently rekindled four days later.

Accused man says SC wildfire not his fault
Loris firefighter Jeremy Lupo works to protect a home from a wildfire in Horry County, S.C. on Thursday, April 23, 2009. [Agencies]

Torchi says the accusations have damaged his reputation and endangered his children. The 39-year-old landscaper said in an interview he doesn't see how he can be faulted for the fire re-igniting Wednesday and beginning a raging trek along the coast.

Officials said homes were still threatened even though the wildfire was 80 percent contained Friday night.

Crews continued to plow firebreaks into critical areas and burn underbrush and trees ahead of the blaze to rob it of fuel. Winds were expected to pick up after sunrise Saturday.

"If just one ember gets out in front of a firebreak, this thing could flare back up quickly," state Forestry Commission spokeswoman Holly Welch said.

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No injuries have been reported.

Along rural Woodlawn Drive, the home Torchi shares with his wife and two young daughters is untouched by the fire, but a neighboring field is covered with gray and black ash that crunches underfoot.

Less than 100 yards away, small orange flames erupt from residue and ash still smoldering at the base of a pine tree.

It's debris from these very pine trees that Torchi said he raked together and burned in his backyard on April 18, as he's done once a week for the seven years since he and his wife, Megan Brogan, moved here from Staten Island, N.Y.

This time, Torchi says, windy conditions caused the fire to grow beyond his control. So he called authorities.

"We already had it pretty much under control" by the time firefighters arrived 30 minutes later, said Torchi. He and a neighbor trained garden hoses on the fire while they waited. "They said, 'It looks like everything's OK.'"

Officials returned later that evening to check on the fire, and Torchi said he saw no sign of it. He worked in the yard all day Sunday and said he thought everything had returned to normal.

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