Big Sky Times

A Lake County man has been sentenced to 60 years in Montana State Prison, with 30 years suspended, and ordered to pay over $1.2 million in restitution for two counts of arson. These charges include the Boulder 2700 fire that resulted in significant destruction and forced evacuations in Lake County during the summer of 2021, according to an announcement by Attorney General Austin Knudsen.

In February, a Lake County jury found Craig Allen McCrea guilty of deliberately setting the Boulder 2700 fire near Finley Point in Lake County on July 31, 2021. The forest fire, which was one of the most high-profile fires in the country at one point, consumed 2,589 acres of forest, destroyed 14 homes and 17 structures, and necessitated the evacuation of thousands of Lake County residents.

McCrea was also found responsible for igniting the Finley Fire in Missoula County just north of Evaro Hill on July 25, 2021. This blaze burned through an additional 18 acres.