Homeless Woman Starts Fire, Nearly Starts a Wildfire

She lit a bush on fire with a lighter. Destroyed a local business. Nearly started another California Wildfire. Woman accused of arson in destructive Grass Valley fire - Los Angeles Times

Never underestimate the power of human stupidity. Unless she meant to start a wildfire.

Police in the Nevada County city of Grass Valley responded to three 911 calls reporting smoke and fire in the brush around Nevada City Highway and Gates Place at about 3:20 p.m., authorities said

A woman was pointed out by witnesses. After being detained, she “made spontaneous claims” of starting the fire with a cigarette by accident, according to Grass Valley Police Lt. Brian Blakemore.

She later recanted, then said she started the fire while testing a lighter on the brush

Grass Valley, California, is roughly a 55 mile drive north of Sacramento. It is about a 70 mile drive to Tahoe City, California, on the shore of Lake Tahoe.

The business she destroyed is Sierra Motor Sports. The owner claims the fire did about $1.5 million in damages, to lost inventory and the building. (They will rebuild.)

If you click thru to look at the photos, you will see 2 red streaks on the ground around the building. This is air-dropped fire retardant, dropped by CalFire to stop the fire from becoming a major national story. It is the height of fire season in the Sierra foothills right now.

Hat tip to the Blancoliro video CalFire's First C-130H Airtanker Flies!. Though it wasn't the C-130H airtanker. The entire video is interesting, but I have it cued up to the section about the Grass Valley fire. The video covers a couple of instances where the airtankers could contain a fire, and one instance where the could not.