I wish people would make an effort to get the event straight...the Hammonds set a back fire during a wild fire event. From what I understand, they set the back fire on their private land and it spread to 127-acres of BLM land. Big deal.
This fact should always be mentioned; it is the kind of information the pisses off people who have no knowledge of wild fire management. That someone would have to do prison time for this is inexcusable.
They set a fire while a burn ban was in effect to protect fire fighters who had been sent into the area.
You can say the ban shouldn't have been in place but don't pretend they didn't violate the law and endanger the fire crew that was actually in the area.