[Lil'freeper]

I can almost guarantee that the hiker twit who started one of the formerly two fires considered herself an environmentalist. 1) she assumed that the rules didn't apply to her when she started her signal fire. Environmentalists are dripping with the 'I know so much more than the foolish little people so don't bother me with your silly little rules' attitude. 2) this attitude is echoed in that probability she was some 'city girl.' The folks living on the 'wild'erness boundary, whose livelihood often depends on the land, have more respect for and knowledge of the land than the idoit environmentalists and the weekend warrior city-dwellers. 3) she was stupid enough to be out of her league hiking up there. It is stupid to leave the trail or road if you don't have the skills to get back. It is even stupider to NOT realize that in the forests of Northern Arizona all you have to do is hike hard for half a day in ANY direction and you'll hit a road. You don't need a signal fire if you're sitting on a road.

Sorry about the incoherant rant, but this has been building for days. Was born and raised in Arizona and will always consider it my home. Went to college in Flagstaff (even trained as a wildland firefighter while there) and got more than my fill of arrogant and stupid tree-hugging environmentalists. My heart aches for those people who are in harm's way and I pray for the strength of the firefighters.

I feel better now that this is all out of my system.

[gaspar]

In Arizona and most of the West it is always advisable to hike with a companion. Note that the press will not publish the hikers name, I wonder why??

[Havisham]

And a great rant it was. How long have we been told we can't log that 'old growth' habitat blah blah blah? Well, now there's no habitat and lots of animal destruction (something very unpleasant to think about). Shouldn't the meta-left and it's gang of lawyers and judges have to feel the consequences of their activism? If Arizonans can't get angry about this and exact a toll from the enviromental lobby, they can't get angry about anything.

[Glutton]

The only environmentalists I ever saw light an arson fire is the two twits who burned SUVs here in Eugene, Oregon to protest them. Or those that did the Oakridge Ranger Station and those fires aimed at USFS or BLM infrastructure and ski lodges.

Many fires (like the infamous Warner Creek fire locally) have been set in spotted owl reserves, and some were togenerate work, or as in the case of the USFS employee in Colorado, to make them seem like heroes for calling them in.

As someone who has had a friend die before his eyes when a burnt snag split open his head, I hate arsonists, passionately. But I caution about hyperbole that the preponderance of these filthy creatures are enviro whackos.

The evidence is just not there to make that case.