Guns blamed for sparking wildfires in parched West

[fasteddie]

Page 3 Today's Rochester D&C

Guns blamed for sparking wildfires in parched West

By Nicholas K. Geranios

Associated Press

SPOKANE, Wash. — In the tinder-dry West, where campfires, fire­works and even lit ciga­rettes are banned across public lands, another fire-starting culprit re­mains free of most re­strictions: guns.

This year, officials believe target shooting or other firearms use sparked at least 21 wild­fires in Utah and nearly a dozen in Idaho. Shoot­ing is also believed to have caused fires in Ari­zona, Nevada and New Mexico. Officials have been asking the public to scale back shooting as legions of firefighters contend with one of the busiest and most de­structive wildfire sea­sons to hit the West.

In Utah, Republican Gov. Gary Herbert took the unusual step of au­thorizing the top state forest official to impose gun restrictions on pub­lic lands after a gunfire­sparked fire. Herbert said his deci­sion doesn’t limit gun rights, but is a common­sense response to dry conditions. Guns rights advo­cates, meanwhile, were skeptical that firearm use can cause so many wildfires. Clark Aposhian, chairman of the Utah Sports Shooting Council, said that perhaps 5 per­cent of the wildfires in the state have been caused by target shoot­ers this year.

“I don’t know how much of a problem it real­ly is,” he said.

Officials believe steel­jacketed bullets are the most likely culprits, given one shot that hits a rock and throws off sparks can ignite surrounding vege­tation and quickly spread. Popular exploding targets also are blamed for caus­ing wildfires.

For weeks, state offi­cials have said they were powerless to ban gun use because of Second Amendment rights, but legislative leaders say they found an obscure state law that empowers the state forester to act in an emergency. Among the recent fires, target shooters on June 21 ignited a blaze about 30 miles south of Salt Lake City that grew to about nine square miles and forced the evacuation of about 2,300 before it was contained. Statistics on wildfires caused by firearms are in­complete because the fed­eral government does not list “shooting” as a cause on its fire reports. But some officials write in “target” or “shoot” as a cause, said Jennifer Jones of the National Interagen­cy Fire Center in Boise, Idaho. On land managed by the U.S. Forest Service only, the center found 17 such wildfires in 2010, 28 last year and 13 so far this year. This year, the Bureau of Land Management said 11 of 31 wildfires it has battled in Idaho have been sparked by shooting ac­tivities.

[Early]

When in doubt....Blame it on guns!

[Doc]

So how do you go about scientifically proving that a spark from a bullet striking a rock started a fire. How many rocks do you have to pick up and inspect in order to find the right one and come up with that conclusion.....lol. More likely it is a convenient theory to close out a fire report. I love their lament about that pesky old 2nd amendment that keeps them "powerless to ban gun use".