Wallow Fire – Coda
For two weeks in June I covered Arizona’s worst wildfire, the Wallow Fire. Now the BBC reports on the final chapter Wallow Fire: Cousins charged over Arizona wildfire
Two cousins have been charged with negligently setting the largest wildfire in Arizona history.
The Wallow Fire, which consumed 804 sq miles (2,080sq km), started from a campfire lit by Caleb Malboeuf, 26, and David Malboeuf, 24, both of Arizona, according to charging documents.
The two experienced campers left the fire unattended and went for a hike in the Apache National Forest on 29 May.
The fire destroyed 32 houses and cost more than $79m (£48.2m) to fight.
It was not fully contained until 8 July.
The penalty for the charges is only 6 months in jail and/or a $5000 fine. These guys had their dogs with them and left the dogs tied up when they fled. One of the dogs died, but they were identified by the rabies tags on the dogs’ collars.
Note that they are not undocumented foreigners, but Arizona’s “own, fine citizens”.
7 comments
Yeppers, they were good upstanding salt of the earth, the common clay of the New West, people of the land… you know…
– Badtux the Snarky Penguin
I have never left a fire that I didn’t know was out. Worse case there is always the emergency liquid supply known as your bladder. The ‘common clay’ indeed – dumber than dirt.
Too bad the dogs didn’t go hiking and leave the two morons tied up near the camp fire.
OT: So, anyway… as I said in another thread a few days ago, I’m moving this weekend. So, I’ll see ya all in a couple weeks or so. Assuming we get Internet. Won’t know until they try to provision it as we will be at the extreme end from the exchange for ADSL2+ (over 4 km). May have to get ADSL1 or something else. *shrug* Well, I had really decent Internet for a few months anyway.
Good luck and I’ll ttyl! 🙂
Don’t overdo it, and with luck we’ll still be here.
Yeah, down here they would be in a whole lot of trouble over those dogs. You just don’t do that. That one of them survived means that they could have reached them if they had made the effort.
Actually, I’m surprised they’re not up on animal cruelty charges too. Arizona’s ranchers do love their dogs, to the point where killing a dog in parts of Arizona gets a bigger penalty than killing a Mexican. Just sayin’ ;).
– Badtux the Former Arizona Penguin
I don’t understand why you would take a dog with you and then leave them tied up in camp, unless you were rock climbing, but then, we are talking about the ‘common clay’ so logic plays no part.
The only reason I can think of for them to leave the dogs behind was out of some bone-headed notion that the dogs would guard their belongings while they hiked. But if the dogs were tied up, clearly that doesn’t make any sense. There’s a name for tied-up dogs faced with someone who has a gun: Target practice.
But as you say, “common clay”… poor dogs :(.