California Wildfires: Man Delivering Materials to Marijuana Plot Arrested, Accused of Lighting Grass
Police arrested a man Saturday accused of starting a wildfire that has engulfed more than 4 square miles in northern California. Freddie Alexander Smoke III, 27, was allegedly delivering materials to a marijuana plot near when exhaust from his vehicle lit nearby dry grass.
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or CalFire, said Smoke was arrested on felony charges of recklessly starting a fire and marijuana cultivation.
The fire from Shasta County has been dubbed the Bully Fire, and it has grown to nearly 3,000 acres. As of Saturday night, officials said only 10 percent of the fire had been contained, the New York Daily News reported.
Over 1,000 personnel are involved in fighting the fire, which has caused road closures and evacuations. CalFire reassured that all of the residents displaced by the fire have been allowed to return to their homes and roads have been reopened. However, the blaze is still threatening over a dozen homes and 50 other structures.
Simultaneously in central California, the Nicolls Fire has burned 1,200 acres of remote land near the Sequoia National Forest. Officials said by Saturday night, only 5 percent of that fire had been contained. It began in a forest south of the park Friday afternoon.
More than 600 personnel are fighting that fire. No homes were in danger or needed to be evacuated. Sequoia National Park, east of Fresno, is famous for its giant Sequoia trees.
According to the CalFire website, wildfires are named after a geographic location or landmark near where the fire started. These fires can be named by local dispatch or by first responders on the scene. The goal of naming the fires is to organize them and to provide firefighters "an additional locator and [allow] fire officials to track and prioritize incidents by name."
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