Seasonal Worker Gets 3 Months in Jail for Yellowstone Fire

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK (AP) — A seasonal concessionaire employee has been sentenced to three months in jail for igniting a small grass fire near the North Entrance of Yellowstone National Park.

Park officials say Curtis Faustich pleaded guilty Tuesday to discarding lighted material in a hazardous manner. He said he dropped a cigarette on the ground while sitting at a picnic table July 26.

The blaze scorched 4 acres of grass and sage before it was contained.

Faustich also was sentenced to two years of unsupervised probation, was ordered to pay $5,000 in restitution and is prohibited from entering Yellowstone for two years.