OGDEN, Utah, July 12, 2026 (Gephardt Daily) — A 51-year-old man has been arrested after he allegedly started a small fire that grew out of control and became the Mountain Road wildfire.
Justin Derald Hurd was arrested at 4:51 a.m. Saturday for allegedly causing a catastrophe, recklessly caused, a class A misdemeanor. His bail was set for $2,500. He remained incarcerated as of Sunday afternoon.
Hurd’s arrest document say that at 12:49 a.m. Saturday, Ogden City Police officers responded to a report of a grass fire near 1100 North and Mountain Road.
“Callers described seeing a black Dodge pickup truck driving away from the area, with no lights on, and at a high rate of speed,” Hurd’s arrest document says.
“Prior to this information being shared, the truck had been stopped by a patrol officer and the driver was identified as a juvenile male.”
Mountain Road Fire. Photo: Ogden City Fire
The juvenile told officers he had been hiking with another male in the area and that the other male had offered him narcotics “and had intentionally lit a small fire which quickly burned out of control.
“When questioned by officers about the truck, (the juvenile) stated that it belonged to the male who had set the fire.”
The truck the juvenile was driving was found to belong to Hurd. The youth was detained for questioning.
Mountain Road Fire. Photo: Ogden City Fire
“During officers’ response to assist the fire department in the area, firefighters requested officer assistance with a male party who was being confrontational with fire crews. When officers arrived, the male was identified as Justin Hurd, and was subsequently detained and transported to the OPD station to be interviewed.”
The youth was interviewed in the presence of his father, and told officers he had met Hurd at about midnight when Hurd approached him on the street near 12th Street and Jefferson Avenue as the boy was walking toward his father’s house.
The boy said Hurd appeared intoxicated, “but offered to buy food and gas for his truck and to allow him to drive his truck for the purpose of going hiking on the trails near where the fire occurred.”
About 20 to 30 minutes into the hike, Hurd “began making statements about offering to purchase narcotics for them to share,” Hurd’s arrest document says. The youth said Hurd talked about DMT (Dimethyltryptamine), a Schedule I narcotic.
The youth also said that during the course of their hike, “Justin attempted to build a campfire by setting dry wood alight with a pink cigarette lighter. (The juvenile) stated that the fire quickly grew out of control and began to spread despite his and Justin’s efforts to contain it.”
Mountain Road Fire. Photo: Ogden City Fire
The youth said that “due to the uncomfortable circumstances he left the area in Justin’s truck, intending to return it to his residence, and was shortly thereafter stopped by officers.”
Post Miranda, Hurd gave an account of events that closely matched the one given by the juvenile, but “diverged specifically on the act of starting the fire. Justin repeatedly denied having started the fire and claimed that it had been likely been set by other persons he observed running from the area.”
Hurd reportedly said “he did not know who set the fire and that he made attempts to control or contain the fire by kicking at it, trying to stomp it out, and clearing brush away from the area, but that he was unable to stop the fire’s spread. When asked why he not made any calls to 911 to report the fire, Justin was unable to provide a reason.”
Hurd was booked into the Weber County jail.
More than 50 firefighters from multiple agencies rushed in to fight the fire and to protect threatened structures, Ogden City Fire said in a news release.
The Mountain Road Fire grew to 18 acres, and was contained Saturday night.
Mountain Road Fire. Photo: Ogden City Fire
