SC man pleads guilty to starting fire in Horry County

A South Carolina man has plead guilty to setting a backyard trash fire, that led to a massive blaze in Horry County.

Marc Torchi was cited for failing to notify the Forestry Commission of an outdoor burn, and allowing a fire to spread to a neighbor’s property.

Torchi agreed to plead guilty to those charges, but his lawyer said in court he had nothing to do with the big wildfire in late April. The judge told the courtroom, there is a lesson to be learned from this: call forestry’s hotline before you burn.

“It lets our dispatchers and our firefighters know that there is a burn going on at that address so we are that much more prepared if a fire gets out of hand,” said Scott Hawkins of the South Carolina Forestry Commission.

Torchi and his neighbors testified that everybody on his rural road burns outdoors, and nobody calls forestry first. Forestry countered that their hotline got 18,000 notification calls in Horry County last year.

Torchi’s fine for setting the fire was $732.