At around noon yesterday a target shooter caused a wildland fire. By his own admission he fired a shot and ignited some brush. The fire spread rapidly and within a few hours consumed 3,000 acres. Exactly how the gunshot caused the fire has not been released yet.
The fire is now 60 percent contained due to the use of 14 airtankers and more than 1,000 firefighters on the scene. About 350 homes were evacuated, eight structures lost and a number of pets and livestock killed.
The individual who started the fire was shooting in a legal area but did not have an axe, shovel and water in his vehicle as required by BLM and NFS. He did make an attempt to extinguish the blaze to no avail and then called for help. Early reports are that he will probably have to pay the suppression costs and will be sued. One of the destroyed homes belonged to an attorney (talk about bad luck).
When I got home I got the family ready to evacuate as the fire was about one mile away a headed for my house. Then I hopped in the pick up and went to the fire station to see if others might need assistance with livestock or whatever. I had been out shooting the day before and still had two rifles on the gun rack in the truck. WOW! The anti-gun crowd jumped right on me. One guy came up to my truck window before I even got the engine shut off and screamed "how could you even think of showing up here with a gun after what's happened?". I replied that I would protect his property and mine from looters if the need arose since he was not prepared to do so. About then a lady chimed in and informed me that the Sheriff would handle any problems that might arise and that she was going to report me for having "Dangerous Weapons".
This is the 3rd firearms related fire within 5 miles of my home that I recall in the past three years. The anti-gun crowd has also taken note of this fact and have already started rumblings about outlawing shooting on public lands.
