La Brea Fire Cause Determined
As I posted as an update with the earlier KEYT report, KSBY confirms and adds some additional information – Fire investigators identify cause of the La Brea Fire
In a press release from the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Narcotics Unit and the U.S. Forest Service:
Investigators revealed that the La Brea Fire was started by a cooking fire in a marijuana drug trafficking operation.
…Although the La Brea Fire started more than one week ago, there is evidence that the unburned marijuana garden area has been occupied within the last several days. The Narcotics Unit has secured the camp area which was located in remote and rugged terrain. It is also believed that the suspects are still within the San Rafael Wilderness trying to leave the area on foot…
Between the actual fire, and the back fires, it is unlikely they will be able to get out. Unless they signal for assistance from an aircraft, their survival chances are between slim and none.
14 comments
Yet another “victory” in the War on Drugs, which looks an awful lot like a War on America, doesn’t it?
— Badtux the Sovok Penguin
.-= last blog ..Depressing numbers =-.
I think there will probably be an interesting on-going discussion with the drug investigators by the appropriate fire officials about the continued presence of these camps during extreme fire conditions.
It sure does look like a war on Americans. Jeez they are finding about 100 pot fields a week ALL OVER the U.S and the weed is not for the Mexicans or Canadians it’s for us. We need to Legalize Weed so people ca grow it in there own backyard where it belongs.
[sarcasm]isn’t prohibition great?[/sarcasm]
As near as I can tell, the “War on Drugs” has produced nothing but collateral damage. It’s a waste of time, energy, money, and National Forests.
Legalize them and tax them – it’s the American way.
If it were legal this type of thing wouldn’t be happening. But lets not use the most crystal clear solution and do the SMART thing (legalizing and taxing) that would solve these problems. Yet more proof of the absolute stupidity of our elected officials. Lets be honest, how many of you out there are happy with the performance of our congress? Republican, Democrat, Independent….. we are all upset at the mess the feds make of everything. Marijuana IS non-toxic, and one of the safest substances out there. The medical benefits are numerous, and its just an enjoyable and safer way to relax or celebrate. ASPIRIN has caused more deaths than marijuana. Caffeine is more addictive. Fair enough if you simply don’t like pot or have a moral argument with it, but that is no reason to keep it out of the hands of responsible adults who like to partake who have a different morality than you (MANY people in this country cannot stand organized religion and shouldn’t have to bow to their arbitrary morality(kill a man on tv and its no big deal, but show a tit and the nation freaks out)).
HOWEVER, I’m sure our brilliant populace understands that there is an entire government complex with hundred of billions of dollars invested in the eradication of a PLANT of all things. At this point, the game for them is to ensure job security for their thousands of employees, and to ensure they continue to get as much funding as possible (again I stress BILLION$). Same with local law enforcement. No more money from (theft)ASSET FORFEITURE? No more overly expensive toys to hunt urban gardeners? Officials have been bloated from sucking on the cash cow teat of the marijuana trade at the expense of it own populace. Like children they will only be weaned from the teat kicking and screaming. This is all at the expense of the taxpayer-citizens. That should be common sense to understand. Broken government and a symptom of the bigger problems. This Land of the Free does everything it can to keep a PLANT from growing naturally. Can everyone see the stupidity in that?? -outlawing nature? Pure genius, hahaha!
Time to stop wasting money on its eradication, tax it, and share in the benefits. As a long time off and on user of marijuana (NOT a pot head), I can tell you this is all just hysteria. Pot is simply NOT that big of a deal, IT JUST ISN’T…….unless the feds have their filthy grubby fingers involved.
This is why you see a pharmaceutical pill for EVERYTHING advertised on tv. The Big Pharma lobbyists own our congressmen. Same with telecom companies. Same with your credit card companies. How hard is it to see this? Its the same thing with pot. America, when people say we need to “take our country back”, to me this is what it means. No more sell-out congressmen, no more slavery to multi-national corporate greed that creates our public policy. Can we start to all see the bigger picture now? how long will we take it?
I look at it from a utilitarian and business perspective – prohibition does not work, cannot work with humans, so stop wasting resources. There is no return on the investment, it is based solely of the terror of some people that someone, somewhere, might be having fun. A lot of people are dying because it is illegal, not because of what it does.
Well said, Bryan
too bad we can’t blame it on federal agents burning a marijuana crop they found.
.-= last blog ..I’ve always said that Woman’s Best Friend is a Big Black Dog =-.
I didn’t investigate the site, I don’t know that, and given the DEA’s track record it may be too soon to make that the statement that the people at the location weren’t undercover DEA agents. 😈
[Have I mentioned lately how much I hated having to work with the Feds when I was in law enforcement?]
not lately, no, you haven’t. have i ever mentioned that i used to clean up hazardous waste with an ex-dea agent?
.-= last blog ..I’ve always said that Woman’s Best Friend is a Big Black Dog =-.
Like meth labs which require the bomb squad and air packs to deal with?
Interesting serving a warrant on those, when the last words you hear in the briefing are “Don’t think about firing a weapon inside or using tear gas.”
i only ever went on one or two suspected drug lab cleanups, and only one other job that required us to call out our own bomb squad. most of my work was ‘drum jobs’ where we dug up thousands and thousands of leaking drums of goodness-knows-what from landfills, or removed thousands and thousands of drums of goodness-knows-what from illegal waste ‘recycling’ facilities.
the dea agent had changed careers. don’t know if hazmat turned out to be more exciting, or less. i never thought to ask.
.-= last blog ..Woman’s best friend’s best friend =-.
Unmarked drums, that would have been a treat, We had those all the time on military bases. The manufacturers were supposed to stencil the contents on the drum, but every so often a blank would show up and get used like a traffic cone until it started leaking, then Civil Engineering would get called to deal with it.
Most of the time is was a petroleum product, but there were a few cases of EOD and flight line fire fighters for a little excitement. The drum was a good way to ship almost anything, especially by ship, because it was water proof and easy to load on a pallet, so it could be ordnance just a easily as a lubricant, and both would be sent to the flight line.
There were supposed to be markings, but things may have gotten busy, so there were no guarantees.
Actually there were a number of chemists involved in the WonD, mostly checking supply house for unusual shipments to odd addresses that could be the basis for warrants, as well as warning people of what to expect and look for in a raid. They were OK. It was the “cowboys” who were trying for a guest shot on Miami Vice that were the PITA.