Santa Barbara County wildfire blamed on marijuana growers: The Question is will the fact that it was a Mexican Cartel make the Big News or will our Media forget that we are under attack by Mexican Cartel Cannabis Grows and play pin the tail on the California Home grower?

Santa Barbara County wildfire blamed on marijuana growers

A fire that has burned more than 87,000 acres in Santa Barbara County was started by an illegal marijuana operation, authorities said, apparently making it the first major wildfire in the state caused by drug traffickers.

The county sheriff's department, which has recently eradicated other nearby marijuana plots, believes the site was run by a Mexican drug organization, but officials Sunday declined to say how investigators reached that conclusion.

Narcotics agents say hidden marijuana gardens are increasingly being planted in California's mountainous regions, including its vast national forests. Federal agents say many of these pot farms are tied to Mexican drug cartels that use forest lands to camouflage large operations.

Investigators found that the fast-moving La Brea fire, which was 64% contained Sunday, was sparked by flames from a cooking fire near a remote, overgrown canyon in Los Padres National Forest.

Even as firefighters battled the flames, authorities said those believed to be responsible were probably still in the forest trying to escape by foot. No suspects had been apprehended as of late Sunday, and law enforcement officials warned the public not to approach anyone who looked suspicious and to notify the sheriff's department.

Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department officials would not say whether the suspects were armed. But law enforcement officials with experience eradicating illicit pot operations say that is likely.

U.S. Forest Service Fire Cmdr. Jeanne Pincha-Tulley said the agency's law enforcement units would be prepared if they came upon the fleeing growers. "I doubt they would come near the firefighters," she said. "But considering how much we tramp through the woods, it's kind of scary."

Gaining ground

The La Brea fire is one of at least a dozen being fought as the state heads into the critical late-summer fire season. Firefighters were getting the upper hand on most of the blazes.

Daniel Berlant, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said four major fires have been burning in Santa Cruz, Shasta, Yuba and Alameda counties. Several smaller fires have broken out in recent days.

The Lockheed fire near Santa Cruz at one point threatened thousands of homes, but firefighters were beginning to make progress on the 6,800-acre blaze, and evacuation orders were lifted Sunday.

Berlant said strong winds in Northern California made it difficult to fight the flames last week, but they have started to subside. "As the winds have let up somewhat, our crews have really been able to take advantage," he said.

The number of fires is normal for August, Berlant said. Typically, the most damaging fires occur in September and October, as has been the case with a series of devastating wildfires in Southern California in recent years.

Investigators in Santa Barbara County discovered an unburned marijuana patch near where the La Brea fire broke out Aug. 8, investigators with the Forest Service and the Sheriff's Department said in a joint statement released late Saturday. There was evidence that the site had been occupied within the last several days, and the scene suggested that a cooking fire was the cause of the blaze.

Pincha-Tulley and other fire officials said Sunday that they couldn't recall another instance where the operators of an illegal marijuana farm had sparked a wildfire.

Authorities declined to provide further information Sunday.

"There's really nothing I can say beyond our release," said sheriff's spokesman Drew Sugars, adding that the department could hold a news conference today to discuss the details.

Marijuana farms might be novel territory to firefighters, but not to forest rangers and narcotics agents.

A Santa Barbara County sheriff's narcotics unit has been working in the Los Padres forest area over the past month pulling plants from other grow sites.

Forest Service rangers work with state and federal narcotics agents each summer to find and root out large marijuana farms that sprout in a March-to-October growing season, said Vicki Collins, a forest service spokeswoman.

More of the story at the link

[Maj.PotHead]

my local news blames by Mexican Cartel Cannabis Growers

Originally Posted by Maj.PotHead

my local news blames by Mexican Cartel Cannabis Growers

Good! That helps us! We should be sure to tell people that legalization will free 980 million to fight those assholes.

I'm thinking that they may have set that on purpose if they were getting raided all over..

Hell it ain't their country why would they care about or State either.

[sunwukong]

A cooking fire started it. Right in the article. They just included the mj, because mj prohibitionists are loosing ground out there faster than wildfires are burning it. They want people to think that if mj were legal, this would happen everyday. If they really cared for these parklands, asshole politicians wouldn't sell the lands off, cut park budgets, and try to drill the moment some idiot finds oil. We'd be growing in our homes and backyards, not relying on gangs to grow it in the boonies.

[Open Eyes]

Don't you know that cannabis causes white women to seek relations with black and hispanic men? That cannabis makes you a raving lunatic that is willing to kill is also known. Lets not forget that cannabis use kills brain cells as well. The latest is that producing cannabis will set forests on fire.

How much more of this shit do we have to listen to?

Ironic that cigs are legal and have caused many more wildfires then illegal MJ.

Also, down here in SD mexicans live in the canyons just to live, not to farm MJ and anyone of them could easily start a fire by their ineptitude.

Smokey the Bear says, "Remember kids, Sherrif's are idiots". lol

https://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/aug2...-08-17-093.asp

The first to be generic as to who and why that I have seen..

Just illegal drug blah blah..

[FreedomFGHTR]

how do they know that the two were actually related? Did they smell tons of burning herb?

[birdbrain]

Seems to me that if MJ were legalized and every smoker grew their own without repercussions , the demand would really go down along with prices, and the mexican cartels would find growing pot unprofitable. So not only would the state reap the sales tax benefits, but would spend a hell of a lot less taxpayer money trying to eradicate these mountain pot farms, and a lot less money housing prisoners incarcerated for pot.
I'm sure the prison guard union would have something to say about that and would fight it to the end.

[happydaze]

Just remember that if they legalize it there is a strong chance that it will still be illegal to grow it. Possession is a different matter. They will want us to buy it from the federal or state facilities. Which in my opinion will be like just now. There will just be a nametag on the person handing me the bag.