Pubdate: Sat, 31 Aug 2013
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Copyright: 2013 San Jose Mercury News
Contact:  http://www.mercurynews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/390
Page: A1

OFFICIAL HINTS POT GROW IGNITED BLAZE

"We know that these illegal pot growers are out in our forests, and I
think this fire just wiped out a whole bunch of them." - Randy
Hanvelt, chairman, Tuolumne County Board of Supervisors

Investigators searching for answers into what caused the massive
wildfire burning in and around Yosemite National Park have made some
headway, fire officials said Friday.

Most authorities are mum about the details, but one fire official in
Tuolumne County offered a tantalizing clue when he recently told a
community meeting that the fire was likely caused by marijuana growers.

"We don't know the exact cause," said Todd McNeal, fire chief in Twain
Harte, a town that has been in the path of the flames. But he told a
community meeting that it was "highly suspect that there might have
been some sort of illicit grove, a marijuana grow-type thing."

"We know it's human caused. There was no lightning in the area," said
McNeal, a former captain with the Sonora Fire Department who has
fought fires for 23 years for the Forest Service, the National Park
Service and other agencies in the Sierra Nevada.

His remarks, made on Aug. 23, were recorded and posted on YouTube in a
video that has gotten surprisingly little attention.

Officially, authorities were saying little.

"The cause is still under investigation. There has been progress in
the case, but we can't share any additional details at this time,"
said Stanton Florea, a spokesman with the U. S. Forest Service.

The Rim Fire began Aug. 17 in a remote area of Stanislaus National
Forest called Jawbone Ridge, far from any paved road. Smoke from the
blaze has drifted so far that satellites are measuring it thousands of
miles away over Canada and the Great Lakes - and in traces over Europe.

By Friday, the fire had burned 213,414 acres, making it the fifth
largest wildfire in California history. It was 32 percent contained;
fire officials are estimating full containment on Sept. 20.

Over the past decade, the Forest Service and rural police have
reported an increasing number of huge marijuana plantations being
found in national forests across California and other states. The
operations are run by Mexican drug cartels and are often guarded by
armed lookouts, authorities say.

The growers have shot wildlife, rerouted streams and poisoned parks
and forests with pesticides. They also have started fires.

In 2009, a huge fire that burned 90,000 acres in the Los Padres
National Forest near Santa Barbara was set by a campfire from an
illegal marijuana grow, Forest Service investigators concluded at the
time.

The Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department said the operation was
run by a Mexican drug cartel. Deputies reported finding 30,000
marijuana plants and an AK- 47 assault rifle in a remote canyon near
where the wildfire started. They also found piles of garbage, propane
tanks and a charred stove.

A few weeks after that incident, the Santa Barbara County sheriff said
that the tightening of security around the U. S.- Mexico border had
led to the rise in drug gangs deciding to grow marijuana on public
lands in California.

"It's made it much more difficult for the cartels to smuggle into the
country, particularly marijuana, which is large and bulky," Sheriff
Bill Brown said. "It's easier to grow it here."

McNeal, the Twain Harte fire chief, did not return calls on Friday, as
5,000 firefighters continued to battle the flames.

A top political leader in the area said that marijuana growers have
been an ongoing problem in Stanislaus National Forest.

"We know that these illegal pot growers are out in our forests, and I
think this fire just wiped out a whole bunch of them," said Randy
Hanvelt, chairman of the Tuolumne County Board of Supervisors.

"It's a problem in all the Sierra forests," he added. "When we find
them, we pull out like 20,000 plants at a time."

Hanvelt said he did not know what leads Forest Service investigators
have made in cracking the case. The area where the fire started is
roughly 10 miles west of the Yosemite National Park entrance on
Highway 120 and 8 miles east of the town of Groveland - a rugged,
steep expanse of dense wilderness.

"It's a tough place to get to," he said. "You don't get there by
accident."

In June, deputies pulled out 15,000 marijuana plants from the adjacent
forest to the south, Sierra National Forest.

The Madera County Sheriff's Department removed four miles of
irrigation pipe connected to streams and more than 2,000 pounds of
garbage, propane tanks, bedding and food.

A month earlier, fire crews battled a 40- acre wildfire in the same
area, and authorities said it had been set by marijuana growers tied
to Mexican drug cartels.

Also Friday, U. S. government satellites continued to churn out images
showing just how far the Rim Fire's impacts are being felt.

Smoke from the blaze drifted at least 2,500 miles, and reached
Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and the Great Lakes.

The soot particles, picked up by nine weather satellites run by NASA
and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, were 10,000
feet or higher in the air, however, and weren't affecting air quality
in most places, except areas near the fi re, such as Reno and the San
Joaquin Valley.

Mark Ruminski, a meteorologist with NOAA's satellite analysis division
in College Park, Md., said that European satellites have even detected
low levels of soot from the fi re over Scandinavia. The particles will
disperse and wash out of the atmosphere after it rains, he said.

"Sometimes people will say ' I can smell smoke,' but most of the time
if you are a thousand miles away you don't even know it," he said.
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MAP posted-by: Matt