[pct-l] pct-l] update: Chips Fire explodes

[Michiel Duvekot]

> What I've heard (at the Belden post office, while watching the flames come eerily close) is that a Mexican drug gang tending after their marijuana crop may be responsible. They were heard when they carried up tools to their fields. The ranger I talked to later wouldn't confirm the story, and would only say it's still under investigation. Some drug lord is probably seriously dismayed about loosing his crop. 
> 
> After passing the Chips fire and getting back on the trail at hwy 36 (thank you Piper's Mom!) I found a fire by Kings Creek that looked like it had been left abandoned. It lit right up when I threw a few branches on it. I know, that was dumb, and probably illegal since I seem to recall seeing a sign that said no fires a few miles earlier. Sorry. Putting it out properly was very easy since the creek was only a few feet away. Why the people who started that fire didn't bother to do so is beyond me.
> 
> I still see people making fires and I seem to be incapable of finding the right thing to say. I don't want to offend anyone, and I do like to sit around a campfire. So I'm quiet about the issue. I'm beginning to think that makes me partly responsible for the problem. I'd love to hear suggestions for a non-confrontational approach to talking some sense into people, myself included.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
> 
> On 2012-08-03, at 10:13 AM, "Clifford McDonald" <clifmcdon at comcast.net> wrote:
> 
>> I believe that I read in a newspaper account that the fire started at 2am.
>> It would seem that whoever might have started the camp fire went to sleep
>> earlier without putting it completely out, awoke later when the fire may
>> have been out of control, and left in a hurry in the middle of the night. I
>> wouldn't be surprised if they left in such a hurry, and in the dark that
>> they left behind many clues as to who they may have been.