Guns blamed for sparking some wildfires in West

Family members walk past the smoldering remains of Val Johnson's house after a fire swept through the hills of Herriman, Utah the night before, Monday, Sept. 20, 2010. The fire which was started at a machine gun shooting range at Utah National Guard Camp Williams caused more than 1,600 homes to be evacuated. / AP Photo

(AP) SPOKANE, Washington - In the tinder-dry U.S. West, where campfires, fireworks and even lit cigarettes are banned across public lands, another fire-starting culprit remains free of most restrictions: guns.

This year, officials believe target shooting or other firearms use have sparked at least 21 wildfires in Utah and nearly a dozen in Idaho. Shooting is also believed to have caused fires in Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico.

Officials have been asking the public to scale back shooting as legions of firefighters contend with one of the busiest and most destructive wildfire seasons to ever hit the West.

But many in the region avid proponents of the Second Amendment right to bear arms, so most state lawmakers are hesitant to enact any formal restrictions.

"We're not trying to pull away anyone's right to bear arms. I want to emphasize that," said Louinda Downs, a county commissioner in fire-prone Davis County, Utah. "We're just saying, target practice in winter. Target practice on the gun range. When your pleasure hobby is infringing or threatening someone else's right to have property or life, shouldn't we be able to somehow have some authority so we can restrict that?"

The state's Republican Gov. Gary Herbert took the unusual step of authorizing the top state forest official to impose gun restrictions on public lands after a gunfire-sparked fire. Herbert said his decision doesn't limit gun rights, but is a common-sense response to dry conditions.

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Guns rights advocates are skeptical that firearms use can cause so many wildfires.

Clark Aposhian, chairman of the Utah Sports Shooting Council, said that perhaps 5 percent of the wildfires in the state have been caused by target shooters this year.

"I don't know how much of a problem it really is," he said.

Officials believe steel-jacketed bullets are the most likely culprits. One shot that hits a rock and throws off sparks can ignite surrounding vegetation and quickly spread. Popular exploding targets are also blamed for causing wildfires.

For weeks, state officials have said they were powerless to ban gun use because of Second Amendment rights, but legislative leaders say they found an obscure state law that empowers the state forester to act in an emergency.

Among the recent fires, target shooters on June 21 ignited a blaze south of Salt Lake City that forced the evacuation of about 2,300 before it was contained.

Aposhian said his group will conduct tests to determine if the steel-jacketed bullet theory is true. If there are limits, "we want to make sure it is not knee-jerk legislation to ban guns or ammunition," he said. "If it turns out the problem is with a few types of rounds, we will not be an apologist for them."

There is no need for such tests, Utah state fire marshal Brent Halladay said. With steel bullets, "you might as well just go up there and strike a match," he said.

Statistics on wildfires caused by firearms are incomplete because the federal government does not list "shooting" as a cause on its fire reports. But some officials write in "target" or "shoot" as a cause, said Jennifer Jones of the National Interagency Fire Center in Idaho.

On land managed by the U.S. Forest Service only, the center found 17 such wildfires in 2010, 28 last year and 13 so far this year.

This year, the federal Bureau of Land Management said 11 of 31 wildfires it has battled in Idaho have been sparked by shooting activities.

Officials at Arizona's Tonto National Forest had seven wildfires caused by firearms in 2010, 10 in 2011 and at least five so far this year. The potential for fire is so great that shooting for several years has been prohibited on BLM property in the Phoenix area.

In one case in the state, prosecutors said five friends at a campout and bachelor party set off a fire on May 12 when one loaded an incendiary shell, which burns rapidly and causes fires, into a shotgun and pulled the trigger.

Meanwhile, firefighters are wary of more wildfires with the arrival of the Independence Day holiday on July 4.

"Many people use these times to show patriotism as well as support for the Second Amendment," Aposhian said.

[foo8259]

"The fire which was started at a machine gun shooting range at Utah National Guard Camp Williams caused more than 1,600 homes to be evacuated." Yep, it can happen. A local range allows "rapid fire", rents handguns and machine guns to newbies too. There was a grass fire there last Summer that threatened a subdivision before the volunteer FD put it out. They kept on shooting.

[stormerF69]

An incendiary round could start a fire and a tracer could,but why would anyone target parctice with them,due to expense,As for steel jacket bullets striking rocks to cause sparks,that is close as can be to fiction,a steel jacketed bullet would ruin your barrel,and copper is a nonferous metal, thus no sparks.

[Paradigm2112]

So 2,000 people need to lose their homes because 1 person feels they shouldn't have to NOT pull a trigger? Everyone bringing politics into this argument should hang your heads in shame. Even the Republican Governor and council members in a very Conservative state are saying how this is NOT about politics.

Fires have no politics, sparks have no politics, 1,000+ degree flames, torching treetops, endangering entire communities of people have no politics. Heat + Fuel = fire. Argue "Conservative" this or "Liberal" that, all you want, you still won't change the laws of Physics.

[stormerF69]

Evidence? Or just BS theory? Steel Jacket Bullets? Copper Jacket bullets,not sure where you would get steel jacketed bullets they would ruin your barrel,and copper jackets are non ferous thus no sparks.

[bobnjersey]

[But many in the region avid proponents of the Second Amendment right to bear arms, so most state lawmakers are hesitant to enact any formal restrictions.]
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you can 'bear' them ... you just can't shoot them.

[cntrygirl3]

Is it really a danger to liberty to ask people to refrain from shooting up the forest when it is very dry and hot. The NRA will not be satisfied until every dispute is settled by a shoot out and Starbucks looks like the Longbranch where everyone wears a gun.

[cbsblogger]

The racist media and their self proclaimed elite owners and pundits are targeting guns and their owners as a problem, when the media should have been targeting corruption and Wall St and false wars.

[thechooch1]

cbsblogger try and stay on subject, Wall Street and wars didn't start these fires. Yeah I know, guns don't start fires, people do.

[foo8259]

Here in South Texas we're in the 2nd year of severe drought. They didn't allow fireworks last year, but because it rained once at the airport they are being sold now. The thing is we didn't get the rains West of the city limits where the pyrotechnics are being sold/shot. Goes to show money talks and common sense walks! As far as the guns go, I doubt plonkers can get or use armor piercing incendiary rounds to shoot at varmints or aluminum cans?

[unclebernies]

It dosen't take a genius to relize that gunfire could easily ignite just about anything. NRA will say it's not possible. Morons

[loofasiamabo]

Gullible yes, a genius you are not, to use your word-moron-yes

[tvwatcher5345]

i need to heard the banjo music from deliverance while i read this story

[biclongstic]

Another reason that guns are evil! WE MUST BAN THEM ALL BEFORE THE ENTIRE COUNTRY BURNS DOWN!

[1stlttightwad]

Let's see now..Heroin is banned,meth is banned, yup, get rid of the items and all is well. Wow!!! Hammers are evil, knives are evil, cars are evil, baseballs are evil, swimming pools are evil, streets are evil,cars are evil, crooks are evil....Yay,let's ban them all. Only people are evil, let's ban you.