So The Rim Fire Was Due To These Freelance MJ Plantations?

Time to get medieval on some stoner ass:

The fire started in a remote area Stanislaus National Park known as Jawbone Ridge. The area is familiar to locals not only for the ruggedness of its terrain, but for the recent appearances of “marijuana plantations” in its more inhospitable reaches.

“We know that these illegal pot growers are out in our forests, and I think this fire just wiped out a whole bunch of them,” said Randy Hanvelt, chairman of the Tuolumne County Board of Supervisors, told the San Jose Mercury News. “It’s a problem in all the Sierra forests. When we find them, we pull out like 20,000 plants at a time.”

Satellite imagery of the fire does indicate that it began in an area known for illegal marijuana production, but McNeal’s statement is the first to directly ascribe blame to any party for the blaze which is, at this time, the fourth largest fire in California history.