[Onthebarricades] US: California fires started as attack on the rich? or is the state seeking scapegoats?

[Andy]

Not quite sure what to make of this...  When disturbing things happen, people often look for scapegoats.  There have been wildfires in California probably for centuries.  Some previous fires have turned out to have been started by individual firefighters and other emergency workers seeking hero status.  Some are human-caused but accidental.

On the other hand, class/anti-poverty anger is very sharp in a polarised society like America, and this kind of nihilistic mass revenge is not entirely unthinkable.  I've been told by a California resident that the San Bernardino fire started inbetween a very poor and a very affluent area, threatening the latter.  Certainly a drastic action if true, and one I find almost unthinkable, but worse things have come out of the rage of the oppressed before now.  There have been a number of deaths from the fires, thousands left homeless, and large areas of forests burnt down.

Yesterday the news reported that police had murdered a "suspected arsonist" who they had "flushed out" of the forest before being shot.  As usual with such cases it isn't clear why he was "suspected" and whether this is just a case of wrong place wrong time.  The police could easily have carried out an extrajudicial execution and then made up a plausible-sounding story.

http://www.dailybulletin.com/ci_7262697

Human causes suspected in blazes
Officials unsure of fires' origins
Robert Rogers, Staff Writer


Wind-fanned flames scorched more than 6,500 acres across San Bernardino County in the past few days. 
Fire officials prodded some residents into evacuation. 

About 150 to 200 houses and other structures were lost. 

Many not busy saving lives and homes harbored a wary concern: Are the origins of the fires natural or intentional? 

Given the absence of lightning in the area in recent days, a short list of possible causes exist for the ignition of the rabid flames, often kicked up by gusts exceeding 80 mph. 

And they all lead to one place - human actions. 

"These fires are going to be human caused, yes," said San Bernardino City Fire Chief Mike Conrad, whose department has knocked down two blazes in the city's northern foothills since Monday. 

"Unfortunately, we do sometimes have arsonists, and carelessness," Conrad added. 

The most common human causes of fires include down or crossed power lines, discarded cigarettes, exhaust backfires from diesel trucks and hot catalytic converters coming into contact with dry, roadside brush, Conrad said. 

Bill Sapp, an official with the fire information hot line, said late Tuesday the Slide Fire may have been started by a downed power line. 

Sometimes fires are started by highly improbable events. 

Conrad said he's seen cases where birds were exploded by power lines, their burning bodies falling and igniting fuel below. 

He's also seen one case where non-lightning, non-human-related events caused a fire. 

"About 15 years ago an earthquake caused a fire in the San Gorgonio wilderness area by triggering a slide," Conrad said. "Flinting rock sparked a fire." 

But no earthquakes corresponded with these fires. 

Conrad said no determination had yet been made on the Little Mountain or Martin Ranch fires, and added that some of the possible human causes of fire are unintentional and unpreventable, such as downed power lines. 

But, Conrad noted, the two fires in San Bernardino were started amid somewhat suspicious circumstances. The Little Mountain Fire was touched off on the side of Little Mountain Road, Conrad said. 

"It could have been a cigarette, or somebody could have stopped and flicked their BIC," Conrad said, using a phrase to indicate deliberate arson. "We just don't know at this time." 

Altogether, as of Tuesday night, four fires either burned or still smoldered: The Grass Valley Fire encircling Lake Arrowhead, the Slide Fire reducing homes to rubble in Running Springs, the Cajon Fire, which blackened foothills just north of the 215 Freeway, and the Martin Ranch Fire, which prompted the evacuation of 45 homes. 

County headquarters of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection had no explanation as to the cause of county fires on Tuesday. 

"We have no information on the cause of these fires," said Annette Avila, a department spokeswoman. "They are all in stages of investigation." 

In San Bernardino, fire officials are already calling the Martin Ranch Fire "suspicious and under investigation." 

Conrad said it appears to have been ignited in the early morning hours Tuesday, at the remote head Meyers Road in the foothills. 

Martin Ranch eventually consumed 75 acres, while the Little Mountain blaze charred 600 and snarled traffic throughout the area. 

As for the larger fires still terrorizing the mountain communities, Conrad said only an investigation will tell, but he's got an idea of how the investigation is going. 

"We always look real close at the possibility of down or crossed (power) lines," Conrad said. "I'm sure their investigators are looking at that now." 

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,22646860-5005962,00.html?from=public_rss

Suspected California arsonist shot dead
Article from: AAP
By Peter Mitchell in Los Angeles

October 25, 2007 02:55pm

US authorities have shot dead a suspected arsonist as wildfires continue to burn across southern California.

Residents are holding their breath for a favourable weather change. 

More than 9000 weary firefighters are still battling 15 fires still burning out of control after four days of blistering heat, low humidity and winds in excess of 100km/h. 

Arson is being blamed for many of the fires. 

Authorities, including teams of FBI agents and helicopters using infrared cameras, have been scanning bushland for suspected arsonists, with police arresting one suspect and shooting another dead. 

Police said the shooting took place last night when when San Bernardino University police spotted a man in a rural area near the campus. 

University police chased after the man, a 27-year-old from Arizona, but he jumped into a car and fled. 

Police chased him and he began ramming their car so they fired at him, killing him. 
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