A judge has ordered a teen who admitted to starting a fire that swept through the Columbia River Gorge last year to pay over $36 million but acknowledges the teen can't pay the sum in full.

Hood River County Circuit Judge John A. Olson wrote in an opinion released Monday that the court awards restitution totaling about $36,618,330 on behalf of Eagle Creek fire victims including the U.S. Forest Service and Oregon Department of Transportation. Olson also tapped the local juvenile department to come up with a payment schedule for the restitution.

He also cited "safety valves" in state law, including one that allows payments to stop after 10 years if a juvenile defendant completes probation, doesn't commit other offenses and complies with payment plans.

A person who answered the phone Monday at the Hood River County Juvenile Department, which is supervising the teen during his 5 years of probation, declined to comment.

Jack Morris, the lawyer for the 15-year-old, last week called a slightly higher figure, $36,631,687.10, "absurd" and "absolutely silly." He also challenged the constitutionality of juvenile restitution on state, federal and policy grounds. He urged the judge to impose a "reasonable and rational'' amount.

Olson wrote in his opinion: "Having reviewed the arguments presented by the parties, the court is persuaded that an award of more than $36 million in restitution does not violate either the state or federal constitution."

He also wrote that the figure "is clearly proportionate to the offense because it does not exceed the financial damages caused by the youth."

Restitution

The court awarded restitution to the state on behalf of the below victims:

- Iris Schenk, whose Warrendale house burned down: $5,000

- Allstate Insurance: $8,111.44

- Oregon State Parks: $31,550.90

- Heuker Properties: $100,000

- Trail Club of Oregon: $168,000

- Union Pacific Railroad: $1,048,877.52

- Oregon State Fire Marshal: $1,643,035.38

- Oregon Department of Transportation: $12.5 million

- U.S. Forest Service: $21,113,755

The court did not award restitution to Amanda Rosenkoetter and Anne Coxen, who requested $4,563.72 and $8,793.14.

— Source: Court records

Morris, reached by email Monday, said he and his co-counsel "don't question that the amount of damage is in the tens of millions as asked for."

"An enormous number of people have suffered and in reality if it was possible to account for all of the losses it could even be more," he said.

He noted "the court's hands were tied by the statute with respect to ordering the full amount of the legally appropriate restitution" and that a "rational" sum would be suitable but that "it's difficult to imagine anything more pointless then ordering an adolescent to pay 36 million in restitution."

The judge was obligated under state law to order that the teen, who admitted in February to throwing fireworks in Eagle Creek Canyon on Sept. 2, pay the full amount of restitution.

The teen was sentenced in February to five years of probation and 1,920 hours of community service with the U.S. Forest Service. He also was ordered to write apology letters to 152 people trapped on the Eagle Creek trail because of the spreading flames, the city of Cascade Locks, the Forest Service, Oregon State Parks, the Oregon Department of Transportation, the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, the Columbia River Intertribal Fish Commission and many others.

At the time of a Oregonian/OregonLive profile of the teen published in November, his father worked as a cook and mother was a stay-at-home mom.

— Jim Ryan and Maxine Bernstein