4 ms·

Individuals should absolutely be blamed for starting forest fires. It’s a fourth-degree felony.

dathos 3y ago
Something being illegal doesn’t mean the blame for the fires to catch and spread so quickly has to go to the one who happened to be careless
- anon291 3y ago
  Being careless is not what's going on in these instances though. A lot of the time, these are arsonists.
- throwbadubadu 3y ago
  The blame is for starting the fire, not everything has 3 safety belts in the world, some things just have consequences.. leading to other consequences. There is just no defense or excuse for being carless and doing super stupid things here, no. Not knowing that.. not sure.
dboreham 3y ago
In Montana you are financially responsible for all losses incurred due to a fire you start. Of course nobody is required to prove billions in insurance coverage before lighting up their yarn brush pile... Fires larger than 48" diameter are generally banned in the dry season here, although that's plenty big enough to set a forest on fire. Sometimes local and federal agencies (depending on jurisdiction) ban all open fires for a while during very dry/windy conditions, and when there's already a big fire to avoid their resource becoming stretched.
dredmorbius 3y ago
Among the largest fires in California history, four that I'm aware of were attributed to: - Mowing a field. This was in fact illegal of itself, due to the fire hazard, but the fire (near Redding, CA) was literally started by sparking steel off rocks. - A flat tyre. The wheel's rim ground against the tarmac, again generating sparks, which lit nearby vegetation. Also near Redding. <https://www.propublica.org/article/california-carr-wildfire-failed-to-prevent-it https://www.propublica.org/article/california-carr-wildfire-...> - Hammering in a fence post. <https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/20/us/california-wildfires-human-causes-arson.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/20/us/california-wildfires-h...> - Power lines. Numerous instances, though the Camp Fire which devastated the town of Paradise, CA, is particularly notable. - Lighting. Most notably the August 2020 California lightning wildfires, resulting from over 11,000 recorded lightning strikes, sparking 21 named fires, many of which were themselves mergers of numerous other fires. A total of 23 souls were lost and 3,586+ structures destroyed. Yes, human activity (or infrastructure) does start fires, and there are times that the actions are negligent or even deliberate. But the landscape is absolutely primed to ignite, and the least spark (or massive lightning bolts) can set it off. The problem truly is systemic.

Something being illegal doesn’t mean the blame for the fires to catch and spread so quickly has to go to the one who happened to be careless

anon291 3y ago
Being careless is not what's going on in these instances though. A lot of the time, these are arsonists.
throwbadubadu 3y ago
The blame is for starting the fire, not everything has 3 safety belts in the world, some things just have consequences.. leading to other consequences. There is just no defense or excuse for being carless and doing super stupid things here, no. Not knowing that.. not sure.

dboreham 3y ago

In Montana you are financially responsible for all losses incurred due to a fire you start. Of course nobody is required to prove billions in insurance coverage before lighting up their yarn brush pile... Fires larger than 48" diameter are generally banned in the dry season here, although that's plenty big enough to set a forest on fire. Sometimes local and federal agencies (depending on jurisdiction) ban all open fires for a while during very dry/windy conditions, and when there's already a big fire to avoid their resource becoming stretched.

dredmorbius 3y ago

Among the largest fires in California history, four that I'm aware of were attributed to: - Mowing a field. This was in fact illegal of itself, due to the fire hazard, but the fire (near Redding, CA) was literally started by sparking steel off rocks. - A flat tyre. The wheel's rim ground against the tarmac, again generating sparks, which lit nearby vegetation. Also near Redding. <https://www.propublica.org/article/california-carr-wildfire-failed-to-prevent-it https://www.propublica.org/article/california-carr-wildfire-...> - Hammering in a fence post. <https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/20/us/california-wildfires-human-causes-arson.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/20/us/california-wildfires-h...> - Power lines. Numerous instances, though the Camp Fire which devastated the town of Paradise, CA, is particularly notable. - Lighting. Most notably the August 2020 California lightning wildfires, resulting from over 11,000 recorded lightning strikes, sparking 21 named fires, many of which were themselves mergers of numerous other fires. A total of 23 souls were lost and 3,586+ structures destroyed. Yes, human activity (or infrastructure) does start fires, and there are times that the actions are negligent or even deliberate. But the landscape is absolutely primed to ignite, and the least spark (or massive lightning bolts) can set it off. The problem truly is systemic.