California's Rim Fire caused by hunter, U.S. Forest Service says

[Ichingcarpenter]

(CNN) -- California's massive Rim wildfire began when a hunter "allowed an illegal fire to escape," investigators with the U.S. Forest Service announced Thursday.


The hunter was not identified, pending further investigation, the forest service said, and no arrests have been made.
The fire began August 17 and grew to more than 237,000 acres, making it the fifth-largest in state history. As of Thursday, the fire was 80% contained.

Although the fire has consumed tens of thousands of acres inside Yosemite National Park, it has so far had little or no direct impact on Yosemite Valley, a popular spot for tourists and home to many of the park's iconic attractions, including the El Capitan rock formation.


Authorities had speculated that illegal marijuana growers could have accidentally started the fire, but the forest service said Thursday that "there is no indication the hunter was involved with illegal marijuana cultivation on public lands and no marijuana cultivation sites were located near the origin of the fire."



http://edition.cnn.com/2013/09/05/us/california-yosemite-wildfire/index.html

[Kelvin Mace]

1. Hey, they were just trying to come

up with a new way to demonize marijuana.

But, turns out its was some careless fool with a gun.

What a shock.

[Xithras]

3. To be fair to the FS

There has been an ongoing war with marijuana growers in the Stan over the past decade, and they HAVE been the source of a number of other smaller fires in the same forest during the past few years. It was an easy assumption to make.

[SunSeeker]

2. Another responsible gun owner.

[wild bird]

4. Could just as easily have been an ordinary camper,

or a hiker, the gun wasn't even involved.

[Paladin]

5. Wouldn't want to hurt the poor gun's feelings, now would we?

Like I've said many times before, nobody attributes living traits to firearms more than Gun Enthusiasts themselves.

(And yes, I'm fucking with you a little---but not much. Say hi to all the folks in your favorite DU group, Gun Control/RKBA.)

[wild bird]

6. Uhhh, if you look at my profile,

you would've known that my favorite group is the Gun Control Reform Activism, not the RKBA group.
And if you had read my comments on guns, you would have known I'm no Gun Enthusiasts.

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Member since: Wed Aug 21, 2013, 09:05 AM
Number of posts, all time: 176
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Last post: Thu Sep 5, 2013, 11:02 AM

[wild bird]

7. So maybe in light of the information I provided you in post 6,

you'd like to maybe edit your post?

You were, quite obviously, wrong about me.

[Paladin]

10. How about a straightforward apology? (nt)

[wild bird]

12. Ok.

By the way, what does nt at the end of your sentence mean?
I've seen it and eom, no clue what that means.

[Paladin]

13. "nt" is for "no text."

It saves people the trouble of pulling up the message text when there isn't anything there to read. It's used a lot around here. "eom" would be "end of message," serving the same function.

[wild bird]

14. Thanks for the information.

I guess I should start doing that.

[SunSeeker]

8. But it was a gun owner, and again, not acting responsibly. nt

[wild bird]

9. So I guess that if it had been a smoker,

you would have said another responsible person with a cigarette?
I'm no fan of guns, but in this case, the gun had zero to do with it, it could just as easily have been anyone else.

[Iggo]

11. But it wasn't a smoker. It was a gun...um...lover.

[SunSeeker]

15. You are trying way too hard.

There is nothing incorrect about pointing out it was an irresponsible gun owner who started the fire. Kinda scary that a dumbass like that is walking around with a gun ...in a forest...where families hike.

[Montezumasdaddy]

16. Where did it say

anything about it being a gun owner? It said "hunter". The hunter could have easily been bowhunting. Actually, this early in the season it probably was a bowhunter.

[wild bird]

17. Good catch.

I myself just assumed that being a hunter, it would involve a firearm, but you might be right, it could be a bow hunter, if memory serves me right, bow season is before firearm season.