Thread: Report Links Wildfires to Illegal Immigrants

Report Links Wildfires to Illegal Immigrants

myfoxphoenix.com
By FELICIA FONSECA,
Associated Press
Published : Tuesday, 22 Nov 2011, 5:08 AM MST

Video @ link

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) - A study by Congress' investigative arm shows investigators have linked 30 fires that erupted in a five-year period in Arizona's border region to people who crossed into the United States illegally — a finding Sen. John McCain says backs up earlier statements he made about illegal immigrants and wildfires.

McCain said this year that fires are sometimes caused by illegal border crossers, but did not specify to which fires he was referring as blazes scorched the southern and eastern parts of the state. The statements quickly drew criticism from activists who jumped on him for "scapegoating."

McCain and fellow Republicans framed the debate over his statements as a distraction.

"I hope this report is a lesson to the activists and public officials that would prefer to engage in partisan character attacks rather than focus the discussion on the vital need to secure our southern border," McCain said Tuesday.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office report was released by McCain's office Tuesday, and came at the request of the senator and fellow Republican Sens. John Barrasso of Wyoming, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Jon Kyl of Arizona, in July 2010.

It makes no mention of whether anyone was prosecuted for starting the fires and offers no hard evidence that immigrants were responsible.

The GAO gathered information for the study, which included fires within 100 miles of Arizona's border with Mexico, from the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho, and interviewed federal, state and tribal officials along the state's 370-mile border.

Nearly 2,500 wildfires occurred in the Arizona border region from 2006 to 2010, but the GAO studied only those that were human-caused, burned more than an acre and those for which investigative reports were available. Of the 422 wildfires that topped one acre, federal fire investigators probed 77, or 18 percent.

The GAO report doesn't cover wildfires in 2011 because investigative reports were not yet complete when the GAO was conducting its study.

The GAO found that 30 of the probed wildfires were linked to illegal border crossers primarily in southeastern Arizona based on what was written in investigative reports. Fifteen were thought to be a signal for help, provide warmth or cook food. An investigative report on the 2009 Bear fire backed up that suspicion by noting the discovery of discarded bottles and food wrappers with Spanish language labels near a campfire. It also noted that the area is frequented by illegal border crossers and is adjacent to a heavily used smuggling trail, the GAO report said.

Reports on the other 15 wildfires don't give a reason for the start of the fire, but the GAO said a couple of them mention that the areas of ignition are known for drug smuggling.

The GAO also looked at fire incident reports for 1,123 wildfires in the area over a five-year period and found that 57 of them include firefighters' suspicions that illegal border crossers were to blame for ignition. Those reports are not formal investigations into the fire's origin.

The GAO said federal officials should come up with a strategy on which fires to investigate and use that to guide fire prevention activities and resources. Without a plan that includes selecting and prioritizing wildfire investigations, the frequency in which the blazes are caused by illegal border crossers remains unknown, the report said.

Federal officials cited a lack of available trained investigators to look into human-caused wildfires, according to the GAO report. Both the Forest Service and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management said providing security for firefighters or their equipment often ranks higher on the priority list.

U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell agreed with the report's observations and recommendations. He said an interagency group is working on standardized policy for wildfire investigations.

Arizona recorded its largest wildfire in state history this year with the 835-square-mile Wallow Fire that destroyed 32 homes, four rental cabins and forced nearly 10,000 people to evacuate. Two cousins have been charged with starting the blaze.

The smaller Horseshoe Two fire atop the Chiricahua mountains burned 348 square miles and destroyed nine homes. That fire investigation report indicates that drug smugglers continued to use the area while the blaze was under suppression, according to the GAO. Another wildfire burning at the time, the 47-square-mile Monument fire destroyed 57 homes.

The GAO also looked at how fire suppression has been impacted by the presence of illegal border crossers. The Forest Service issued a report in 2006 saying the border region could be dangerous for firefighters because of potential encounters with drug smugglers, high-speed pursuits, biological hazards, and illegal border crossers seeking food, water or rescue. The GAO said federal officials it interviewed did not identify any specific threats or assaults.

But the federal officials said firefighting efforts sometimes are hampered over concerns about border crossers in the area.

http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/dpp/news/lo ... x-11222011

30 fires started by illegals in just 5 years?

And this is just Arizona.

Wonder how many have been started by them in CA?

And aren't the environmentalists upset by this?

The cost of these fires had to be high.

Illegal Border Crossers Responsible for Some Arizona Wildfires, GAO Warns

By: Mickey McCarter

11/28/2011 (12:00am)

Illegal immigrants have been responsible for starting a number of wildfires along the international Arizona border over the past several years and the activities of illegal border crossers have limited firefighters' efforts to combat those wildfires, congressional investigators said in a recent report.

At least 2,467 wildland fires began along the Arizona border with Mexico from 2006 to 2010, said the Government Accountability Office (GAO) in its report, Arizona Border Region: Federal Agencies Could Better Utilize Law Enforcement Resources in Support of Wildland Fire Management Activities. Federal officials have held official investigations of only 77 of those fires. Of those investigated, 30 were started by illegal border crossers, agencies determined.

Moreover, Arizona firefighters occasionally have limited their firefighting activities, particularly at night, due to fears of armed smugglers or other trespassers that could threaten their safety in the area. Firefighters have been turning to police escorts for security in these situations, but sometimes limited firefighting in these instances has allowed fires to grow, GAO said.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who requested the report, seized on its results as evidence of the threat drug smugglers and human traffickers in particular continue to pose to his state.

"This independent GAO study again confirms what US Forest Service and local officials in Arizona have long known: That some of the fires along the Arizona-Mexico border are caused by people crossing the border illegally," McCain said in a statement on Nov. 22. "The report further found that firefighting activities have sometimes been delayed while waiting for law enforcement escorts as protection from armed smugglers, which could cause fires to grow larger and more damaging. I hope this report is a lesson to the activists and public officials that would prefer to engage in partisan character attacks rather than help focus the discussion on the vital need secure our southern border."

Of the 2,467 Arizona wildland fires documented from 2006 to 2010, about 86 percent (2,126) were caused by human activity, the GAO report said. Many of the fires were smaller in nature -- 1,364 burned less than 1 acre each. And 63 percent of the wildland fires documented (1,553) started on land managed by federal agencies or Native American tribes.

"The total number of fires ignited by illegal border crossers on federal lands in the Arizona border region is not fully known, in part because federal land management agencies have not conducted investigations of all human-caused wildland fires that occurred on these lands, as called for by agency policy, and the agencies do not have a strategy for selecting fires they do investigate," the report stated. "Of the 422 human-caused wildland fires that occurred on Forest Service, Interior, or tribal lands and burned at least 1 acre from 2006 through 2010, only 77 were investigated. According to land management agency officials, the lack of trained fire investigators was the primary reason for the limited number of investigations. Of the investigations conducted, 30 identified illegal border crossers as a suspected source of ignition."

In addition, firefighters have been reluctant to fight some of the fires due to the presence of illegal border crossers along the Arizona border with Mexico, the report said.

"According to agency officials, the presence of illegal border crossers has increased concerns about firefighter safety and, in some instances, has required firefighters to change or limit the tactics they use in suppressing fires," the report read. "For example, the presence of illegal border crossers has limited firefighting activities at night and complicated the use of aerial firefighting methods."

Firefighting agencies have called upon law enforcement agencies to provide security in some of these situations, but none of them have a risk-based approach for protecting the safety of firefighters. Therefore, police agencies may go to fires where illegal border crossers pose no danger, thereby wasting resources, the report said. Producing risk-based approaches would assist the agencies in the most effective use of their resources.

Federal agencies also lacked data on the economic and environmental impact of wildfires because they do not track enough information to make those determinations, the report continued. However, the fires cumulatively resulted in more than $35 million in firefighting costs by federal and state agencies while having a negative effect on ranching and tourism. The fires also have degraded the habits of endangered species and eroded soil.

GAO called on agencies, including the US Forest Service and the Department of Interior, to produce strategies for choosing which fires to officially investigate and formalize an approach for deploying law enforcement agencies to protect the safety of firefighters when warranted. The Forest Service has developed a policy for protecting firefighters in the Arizona international border region but other agencies have not.

Better data on the causes of wildland fires caused by humans would help federal and state agencies combat them, the report said.

The departments of Agriculture and Interior generally agreed with the GAO recommendations. Although the report contained no specific recommendations for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), DHS said it would continue to support other agencies in identifying the sources of wildland fires when possible and fighting illegal border crossing.

McCain warned that the report might not reflect the true measure of fires caused by illegal border crossers. As only 18 percent of fires on federal lands during this time were investigated, illegal border crossers could be responsible for far more of them.

Also, the report did not reflect the 2011 fire season in Arizona -- the state's worst fire season in history. Two major fires alone burned more than 250,00 acres along the Arizona-Mexico border and cost at least $70 million in firefighting efforts, McCain said.

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