High school coach on leave after allegedly dousing infield with gasoline, starting fire
A high school baseball coach's decision to set his field on fire has backfired.
According to ABC4 in Salt Lake City, Utah, Clearfield High School's head baseball coach Steve Ross was placed on administrative leave while the Davis School District investigates an incident where he allegedly doused the infield dirt with gasoline and set it on fire in order to dry up wet spots.
[It’s still not too late to join or create a 2019 Yahoo Fantasy Baseball league]
The reports says Ross used 15 to 20 gallons of unleaded gasoline and diesel fuel, which led to a strong smell of petroleum. Parents attending a game on March 23 complained about the odor, which led to the ongoing investigation.
In addition to the school district, the Davis County Health Department is also investigating the matter due to concerns about contamination.
"We're not concerned about the people who were there or anything like that," Davis County Environmental Health Director Rachelle Blackham said this week. "But we are concerned about the product in the soil, you know contaminating the soil and possibly penetrating further down."
Tests are being done to determine how much fuel, if any, seeped into the groundwater. To complete those tests, the field will have to be dug up.
"There was another test that was done on Monday just to see how far spread the contamination is and where we need to start removing the dirt," Davis School District Community Relations Supervisor Shauna Lund said of the testing process. "We'll go down a few inches, make sure that it's then clean and if it's not clean we go down a few more inches and then all of that will be replaced."
There are several YouTube videos showing the same tactic being used to dry infield wet spots. It’s not clear if those videos inspired Ross’ alleged actions. The reported 15 to 20 gallons of fuel used would seem to be excessive in comparison to those videos. With that said, it’s difficult to imagine any administration signing off on the idea regardless of how much gasoline was used.
The report says there's no estimate on how long the testing process will take or how much it will cost. In the meantime, Clearfield’s season will continue with a new coach and no home field.
More from Yahoo Sports:
