FIRE INVESTIGATORS DETERMINE CAUSE OF LA BREA FIRE

The print media has finally picked up the fire story.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-fires17-2009aug17,0,3772231.story?page=2&track=rss

Mexican cartel’s marijuana farm blamed for La Brea fire
The massive Santa Barbara County blaze has been tracked back to a cooking fire probably abandoned by drug growers...

It seems like it’s occurring more and more on national forest lands,” she said.

Ventura County Sheriff’s Sgt. Mike Horne said these growers prefer to use propane to cook because open fires or barbecues send up smoke that can identify their positions. Makeshift camps are often littered with propane tanks.

The growers typically are armed to protect against would-be thieves, said Horne, a 10-year veteran of the narcotics unit who has spent the last few weeks confiscating plants in a different part of Los Padres National Forest.

This summer, agents patrolling forest confiscated weapons that included a pellet gun and an AK-47, Horne said. “I can’t remember a garden where we didn’t find some evidence of weapons,” he said. “They are involved in the drug trade, which is inherently violent.”

Tightened border security after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks made it cheaper for Mexican drug traffickers to send workers north to grow gardens than to smuggle dope across borders, federal and state drug agents have testified.[snip]

MORE - cartels using Indian reservations (Oregon):

Big marijuana grow seized on Warm Springs reservation

http://www.ktvz.com/Global/story.asp?S=10939362

Posted: Aug 16, 2009 09:17 PM

But ‘gardeners’ escape; pot-grow cooking fire blamed for S. Calif. wildfire

From KTVZ.COM news sources

Days after tribal police and federal agents seized 1,630 marijuana plants worth an estimated $5 million from a remote area of the Warm Springs Indian Reservation, authorities in California said Sunday a more than 85,000-acre wildfire in Santa Barbara County had been traced to a cooking fire at an illegal marijuana grow.

Friday’s Warm Springs raid marked the fourth time in just over two years that police have busted a major pot grow on the reservation, tied to Mexican drug gangs. The total seized - more than 32,000 plants - have an estimated value of $38.5 million, Warm Springs Police Chief Carmen Smith told The Oregonian, which was allowed to accompany the interagency raid.

“Outdoor pot seizures are common in late summer months across much of Oregon, as growers prepare to harvest one of the state’s leading - although illegal - cash crops,” the newspaper reported, but cannabis cultivation on the 1,019-square-mile Warm Springs Reservation and other native lands across the region “has reached epic proportions.”

Smith told The Oregonian that the Mexican drug cartels have picked Northwest tribal lands because they are remote, mountainous and offer little human traffic, while police agencies on the reservations focus their slim resources on policing more populated areas.

Mexican growers have infiltrated the Warm Springs reservation by taking girlfriends who live there, scouting remote spots and setting up camps in areas that have little if any human traffic, the police chief said.

Because of that inaccessibility, tribal police have flown in Oregon Army National Guard helicopters to find marijuana grows from the air. Police spotted the one where Friday’s raid occurred about a month ago and since then had kept watch on what appeared to be a group of Hispanic men tending the marijuana.

The area is so overgrown, it took police three hours to make it 500 yards to the grow site along Jefferson Creek, on the reservation’s southwest corner. But the growers apparently heard them coming, and fled without being seen - even finding a hose apparently dropped in a hurry by someone who had been watering the plants.

Later in the day, a helicopter lifted three cargo nets full of marijuana plants - about a ton - out of the forest. Having been photographed and documented, they were on their way to be destroyed, said Warm Springs Det. John Webb.

As for the California case, authorities said the La Brea fire began in a cooking area of a pot farm, and believe those responsible are trying to escape the forest on foot. Their location is unknown, but authorities warned “not to approach anyone who looks suspicious but to instead contact the nearest law enforcement agency.”

A statement from the Los Padres National Forest said “The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Narcotics Unit has confirmed that the camp at the origin of the fire was an illegal marijuana operation believed to be run by a Mexican national drug organization.”

A note from Mike Cutler on this:

Hi Gang:

I have attached an article that appears on the CNN website that includes a link to a broadcast version of the news report concerning the fires that are plaguing California, threatening massive destruction of property and endangering lives.

Succinctly stated, some of these dangerous fires are apparently being traced to the cultivation of large numbers of marijuana plants by members of the Mexican drug cartels operating inside our country. The news report I watched on CNN today also noted that often these cartel members are known to be heavily armed. The news report went on to talk about how these individuals use propane tanks to cook their food because they fear that a traditional campfire would generate smoke that would be easy for law enforcement to spot. It is theorized that one of these fires got out of control resulting in at least one of the major fires that fire fighters are battling.

The news report makes clear the amount of damage that the fire started by the drug gang members has caused- to quote from the article:

In Southern California’s Santa Barbara County, a weeklong blaze has charred more than 84,000 acres, investigators said. The fire originated at an illegal marijuana camp believed to be run by a Mexican drug organization, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Narcotics Unit said in a news release Saturday night.
In addition to damage that these fires have caused, imagine the huge financial costs associated with the valiant efforts of the firefighters to combat the fire that has burned more than 84,000 acres, especially at a time when California is already suffering insolvency.

The report further noted that these cartel members were growing millions of marijuana plants inside our national parks! Stop and think about this- while this is not a new situation, the idea that drug traffickers would be inhabiting our national parks, growing marijuana and carrying weapons while their mere presence in our country is a violation of law is nothing short of an outrage!

These criminals are heavily armed in order to protect their crops. Imagine what would happen if a hapless family stumbled upon these thugs and found themselves staring down the barrels of their guns. I cannot imagine such a situation would result in a “happy ending!”

Our nation has been and continues to be infiltrated by criminals from various countries owing to a failure of our nation to secure its borders and create an immigration system that has the resources and the commitment to enforce the immigration laws from within the interior of our nation.

As I have often noted, “A nation without secure borders can no more stand than can a house without walls!”

When will the time come when the concerns of the citizens of our nation will be taken into account by our elected “representatives?”

I would remind you that the difference between an immigrant and an illegal alien is comparable to the difference between a houseguest and a burglar!

In less than two years each and every member of the House of Representatives is up for reelection. In less than two years more than one third of the members of the United States Senate will have to face their constituents. They need to be reminded that they work for us, We the People!

To borrow a phrase: The politicians are either with us, or they are against us! There is no “wiggle room” here- not when the stakes are so high!

The large scale apathy demonstrated by citizens of this nation has emboldened elected representatives to all but ignore the needs of the average American citizen in a quest for massive campaign funds and the promises of votes to be ostensibly delivered by special interest groups. There is much that we cannot do but there is one thing that We the People absolutely must do- we must stop sitting on the sidelines!

The collective failure of We the People to get involved in make our concerns known to our politicians have nearly made the concerns of the great majority of the citizens of this nation all but irrelevant to the politicians.

I implore you to get involved!

We live in a perilous world and in a perilous era. The survival of our nation and the lives of our citizens hang in the balance

This is neither a Conservative issue, nor is it a Liberal issue- simply stated, this is most certainly an AMERICAN issue!

You are either part of the solution or you are a part of the problem!

Democracy is not a spectator sport!

Lead, follow or get out of the way!

-michael cutler-

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/08/16/california.fires/
[snip]LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) — Dry conditions and strong winds in California left much of the state vulnerable to massive fires, with blaze-starters ranging from a cooking fire at a drug trafficking operation to a bird flying into a power line.

News today from my back yard, and yes, they are Mexican Drug Cartel grows.

Marijuana bust may be largest in county history

By David Smith
Daily News
New! Thu Aug 20, 2009, 09:19 AM PDT

Seiad Valley -

What may be the largest marijuana complex ever found in Siskiyou County has been uncovered, according to Siskiyou County Sheriff Rick Riggins and Undersheriff Mike Murphy.
The grow operation,located in the Low Gap area near Seiad Valley, extends over a very large geographical area, Murphy said. He added that since Tuesday crews have been working all day to secure the area, take out plants, investigate the sites and clean up the camps.

Although an exact count has not yet been made, Murphy said that he approximated about 50,000 to 100,000 plants from the air. The largest garden found thus far in Siskiyou County had about 50,000 plants.
Asked how the counts are made, Murphy said that in most instances the eradication crew members count the plants they cut down as they go, and everyone’s final tally is added at the end of the day.

Murphy said that SWAT teams were still securing the area Wednesday, and none of the growers had been arrested at that time. He did say that he anticipated arrests being made through investigation of the site.
“We have to be extremely careful,” Murphy said, because the growers in hillside operations have been known to protect their gardens through force. He explained that that is much of the reason for taking the operation out now, due to the upcoming hunting season and the danger it could pose to hunters.

Murphy said that the agencies involved are the United States Forest Service, CALFire law enforcement, Jackson County Sheriff’s Office SWAT and eradication teams, Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office SWAT and eradication teams, California Fish and Game, Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement personnel from the Redding and Sacramento offices, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Klamath River Fire Department and California Highway Patrol provided a helicopter. The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office also supplied the command post for the raid.

Murphy stated that Siskiyou and Jackson counties have a partnership agreement that allows each to assist the other with raids. He also said that the Fish and Game department sends personnel to assess the environmental impacts that the grow operation may have had, along with other assistance.
“We appreciate the support from all the agencies,”Murphy said.

http://www.siskiyoudaily.com/news/police_and_fire/x2145968273/Marijuana-bust-may-be-largest-in-county-history

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.