Wildfire Today

News and opinion about wildland fire

Wildfire Today

Tag: arson

Man arrested for starting fires near Helena, MT

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags ,

A man has been arrested, suspected of starting multiple fires in the Helena, Montana area. Authorities are investigating Fredrick Maw of Helena and his possible role in starting five fires Wednesday, a 55-acre fire on Tuesday near the McMaster ranch, and another last week near Priest Pass.

The Helena Independent Record reported Mr. Maw “allegedly had been seen at the various fires as a private contractor seeking employment”.

The five fires that started Wednesday about 25 miles northeast of Helena are in the Helena National Forest and are being managed as the Sweats Complex. As of Thursday morning:

  1. Hunter Gulch Fire is more than 100 acres in size and is actively burning in grass and open timber, with 40% containment;
  2. Sweats Gulch Fire is about 300 acres with active fire behavior including isolated torching and crowning;
  3. [Unnamed] Fire approximately one acre, is contained and controlled;
  4. Kelly Gulch Fire is a group of five small fires that together are about 5 acres with a fireline around all of the fires;
  5. Cottontail Fire is about one acre and is contained.

 

Thanks go out to Al.

Arsonist targets cypress trees in Los Angeles

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags ,

SYLMAR, CALIFORNIA – Investigators from the Los Angeles Fire Department are seeking the public’s help in identifying the person responsible for igniting at least a dozen fires in the northeast San Fernando Valley.

The intentionally set blazes – involving Italian Cypress trees, took place in Sylmar, California between November 4, 2012 and February 18, 2013 as seen on an interactive map.

USFS Deputy Director of Fire and Aviation talks about pyroterrorism

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , , , ,
Robert Baird
Robert Baird

The U.S. Forest Service’s Deputy Director of Fire and Aviation Management spoke about pyroterrorism in a keynote address at the Firehouse World conference in San Diego this week.

After serving in the Marine Corps for 25 years, mostly as a planner, Mr. Baird was appointed to his position in the Forest Service in November of 2011. While attending Marine Corps University he wrote a paper titled Pyroterrorism: The Threat of Arson Induced Forest Fires as a Terrorist Weapon, and an article on the same subject, Profiles in Pyroterrorism: Convergence of crime, terrorism and wildfire unleash as a weapon on population.

At the conference this week, according to Firehouse, Mr. Baird mentioned several incidents that could be classified as pyroterrorism, including the Japanese fire balloons during the second World War, the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, and the arson fires set by Raymond Lee Oyler, one of them being the Esperanza Fire that killed a 5-person USFS engine crew. He also referred to an article in an al Qaeda magazine that called for Western Muslims to wage war within the United States, urging them to engage in lone wolf attacks, including setting forest fires.

Below is an excerpt from the Firehouse article:

In 2004, the FBI came upon intelligence and issued an alert to the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) suggesting that Al Queda had plans to start wildland fires in Montana, Wyoming, Utah and Colorado, Baird said, noting that all the material he was presenting was unclassified information and his interpretations and analysis were his own.

“I am not going to be some suit out of Washington, D.C., coming out here and telling you how to fight wildland fires,” said Baird, who added that his family in California was evacuated during the Camp Pendleton fire.

 

Colorado: volunteer firefighter charged with starting 600-acre fire

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , 4 Comments on Colorado: volunteer firefighter charged with starting 600-acre fire
Alex Averette
Alex J. Averette

Alex J. Averette appeared in court Friday after admitting to investigators that he used a lighter to start what became the 600-acre County Road 102 Fire on June 24, 2012 near Elbert, Colorado (map). The 19-year-old, 6-foot-6-inch volunteer firefighter with the Elbert Fire Protection District was the first to report the fire and the first person on scene. He said he lit the fire “for the experience”, according to Elbert County Sheriff Shayne Heap.

More than 100 firefighters from many jurisdictions helped suppress the fire. Resources were scarce at that time due to the Waldo Canyon Fire which started the day before and on June 26 burned into the city of Colorado Springs destroying 346 homes.

Mr. Averette was unable to come up with the $50,000 bond and remains in custody. The court denied a request for him to be released on his own recognizance. His next court appearance is scheduled for March 8.

In a statement on the Elbert Fire Protection District’s web site, Chief John Gresham addressed the news of the firefighter’s arrest. Here is an excerpt:

As Fire Chief of the Elbert Fire Protection District, on behalf of all volunteers of the Fire Department and citizens of the District, I would like to commend Sheriff Shayne Heap and the Sheriff’s Department Investigations Unit for their thorough and professional efforts in determining that last summer’s County Road 102 fire was intentionally set and then identifying and apprehending the suspected arsonist, who was a volunteer member of the Elbert Fire Department.

I speak for all officers and volunteers of the Elbert Fire Department, as well as members of the Elbert community, in stating we were shocked and saddened to learn the alleged arsonist was one of our own. Of course, that individual has been placed on indefinite suspension from all Departmental activities, pending outcome of the legal proceedings.

While such an unfortunate act on the part of a misguided individual may occur, such an act is an extreme exception, in contrast to the commitment to public service exhibited by the dedication, goodwill and hard work conducted by the vast majority of our volunteer members. Although this turn of events is discouraging, the Elbert Fire Department and each of its officers and volunteers remains committed to contributing to the welfare of our community as well-trained public safety volunteers. We continue to seek those individuals willing to offer their services to the community and provide those persons with training and guidance for the benefit of public safety in the Town of Elbert and the surrounding areas.

Old Fire arsonist receives death penalty

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , , 4 Comments on Old Fire arsonist receives death penalty
Rickie Lee Fowler
Rickie Lee Fowler

Rickie Lee Fowler received the death penalty today for starting the 2003 Old fire that destroyed 1,003 homes, burned 91,000 acres, and led to five deaths. He was convicted on August 15 of two arson charges and of murdering the five people who died of heart attacks after their homes burned or while they evacuated during the fire in San Bernardino County, California. When he was convicted, the jury recommended that Fowler be sentenced to death but the judge had the discretion to impose that or life in prison.

This morning Superior Court Judge Michael A. Smith, after hearing arguments by attorneys and statements by the victims’ families, confirmed the death penalty for Fowler. The sentence will automatically be appealed to the California Supreme Court.

In the trial, the State employed the same principle used when prosecutors in neighboring Riverside County won a death penalty conviction against Raymond Lee Oyler, an auto mechanic who set the 2006 Esperanza wildfire that killed five federal firefighters. Oyler is believed to be the first person in the U.S. to be convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death in a wildland arson case.

Old Fire
Old Fire, looking west from Strawberry Peak. Photo taken October 26, 2003 by Dave Schumaker.

Before the trial Mr. Fowler said he and three men in a van had intended to rob John Aylward, a person he identified as his godfather, but realized they were too drunk or stoned to pull it off. Instead, they decided to start a fire, as one person testified before a grand jury, “to burn John’s house down”.

In an interview with investigators, Mr. Fowler said he ignited a road flare and threw it into the vegetation, but corrected himself and said one of the other men in the van struck the flare. In a later interview, he said he intended to strike and throw the flare, but Martin Valdez Jr. took it from him, struck it, and threw it into the brush.

While in prison before the trial, Mr. Fowler was convicted of sodomizing another jail inmate and for that was sentenced to three 25-years-to-life prison terms.

Volunteer firefighter pleads guilty to starting Karney Fire in Idaho

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags ,
BAe-146 on Karney Fire
BAe-146 air tanker makes a drop on the Karney Fire. Inciweb photo.

Another volunteer firefighter has been identified as an arsonist. According to the Idaho Statesman, 19-year old Nathaniel Bartholomew pleaded guilty on Thursday to starting the 440-acre Karney Fire Sept. 17 in Boise County, Idaho.

Mr. Bartholomew was arrested the next day.

The charge he pleaded guilty to Thursday was one count of felony third-degree arson which could result in 10 years in prison. Sentencing is scheduled for March and could include restitution for some of the $2.3 million costs of the fire.

The fire destroyed one residence and caused the evacuation of 80 homes. A Type 2 Incident Management Team and 350 firefighters were able to keep the fire out of a subdivision with 275 homes.