Too many wildfires caused by gun owners, says Utah governor (+video)

Christian Science Monitor ^ | 23 June 2012 | Patrik Jonsson

[smokingfrog]

Some of the wildfires scorching the West this year were sparked by unusual culprits: Gun owners. Or, more specifically, gun shooters.

As with the Dump fire in Utah, which flared hard enough on Friday to force the evacuation of 1,500 homes and 9,000 people, nearly two dozen conflagrations, officials say, have started accidentally by careless target shooters whose bullet sparks touch off dried-up pinon and wild grasses.

“Now is not a good time to take your gun outside and start shooting in cheat grass that’s tinder dry,” Utah Gov. Gary Herbert said Friday.

While authorities can ban certain fire-related activities when fire risks are high, that’s not true with guns, the carrying and use of which are staunchly protected by state and federal law, including several recent Supreme Court decisions.

[Red6]

If conditions are “really” right for it to burn, it's gonna burn. The rest is simply the narrative that assigns blame to achieve some desired socioeconomic outcome.

[Sivad]

If the soldiers-turned-guerillas failed to draw a fire did they
manage to draw a squad of Japanese to the sound of the gunfire?

[onona]

Did anyone say “what a freaking retard” yet ?

ibtwafry post........

[TheBattman]

whose bullet sparks touch off dried-up pinon and wild grasses.

What the heck kind of bullets are they shooting? Incendiary rounds?

I have shot all manner of firearms in what can only be described (both practically and officially) as severe drought. Muzzleloaders, handguns, shotguns, high-power rifles, etc. tall dry grass, short dry brush, etc... not even a glimmer of starting a fire.

[Graewoulf]

Duh, does that mean the we can only “Fire Away” when we hear thunder?

[dragnet2]

All those in Utah, get out as fast as possible.

[Chipper]

I know a quick google search is not the be all and end all of information, but I find nothing about shooting starting wildfires in the past. How is this all of the sudden a problem? I would need to see proof before I believe is. All of the sudden we get 20 fires from target shooting, but nothing in the past.

[familyop]

I’ve seen wildfires on Army ranges, and those were in the Midwest. ...went for the fire truck myself once. It can happen pretty easily. I’ll wait until the fire bans are gone before firing on my own range again. BTW, recreational firing is illegal now in my County (in CO), until the fire ban is lifted.

[tsowellfan]

Now that that ship has sailed, they have to come up with something else.

Exactly!

[editor-surveyor]

Lead definitely cannot start a fire.

[TheRhinelander]

Yep. I solved the problem by living somewhere that doesn’t have these drought issues.

My friend and I joke around that California is Indian for “Don’t live here”. Deserts also apply.

[smokingfrog]

It seems that no place is safe.

danger zones

[dragnet2]

lol...

[CurlyDave]

Muzzleloaders, handguns, shotguns, high-power rifles, etc. tall dry grass, short dry brush, etc... not even a glimmer of starting a fire.

I have seen the patch from a muzzleloader smoke and smolder on the ground for 30-60 seconds. I have no doubt that under the correct conditions it could easily start a fire.

I have also started fires with flint and steel and know that it is difficult to do. I can not imagine sparks from a modern forearm starting a fire in any weather condition found on earth.

[familyop]

"Yep. I solved the problem by living somewhere that doesn’t have these drought issues.

My friend and I joke around that California is Indian for “Don’t live here”. Deserts also apply."

Good move, IMO. It's bad here in Calirado now, too (dryness, socialism, animal worship, environmentalism, NIMBY-ism...all of that).

Never seen it this dry. The grass on my place (short, thin mixture of high altitude perennials) crackles underfoot. It's weird. Fires have been popping up all around us for quite a few days. Smoke everywhere, 24/7.

Anything would set the trees or grass off here now. I've seen fires on 300-meter berms on Midwestern Army posts in the past (5.56mm hardball), and the conditions in those places and times were nothing like this. Seems like there's no humidity at all, and I've been up here more than a decade. We're prepared to scrape dead grass and pour water to the ground from the cistern. Already scraped around the generator for pumping water for quite a distance, just in case. Winds here can easily gust over 80 mph in summer and often do. There are also the frequent dust devils, sometimes nearly like dust tornadoes.

[alpo]

Waste water treatment plants use non-sparking tools made of copper alloy so the methane generated in the primary digester will not explode when maintenance is performed in the area.

Copper jackets of bullets and lead do not cause sparks.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

You can’t even ignite a gasoline-filled can with a bullet.

[FlingWingFlyer]

Herbert doesn’t strike me as being very bright.

[misanthrope]

Years ago on my place in Texas, I had a 100 yard range. The target was a 12”x12”x1.5” thick slab of hardened 4140 steel hung from a steel frame by two short chains. It rang like a bell when hit.

My friend Mitch and I started a grassfire shooting at it with steel core 7.62x39 Russian ammo out of SKSs.

It can most definitely happen with steel core 7.62x39 ammo, which is VERY common.

For sure a public awareness campaign could help reduce fires from shooting. No laws should be considered.

[Charles Martel]

You can make sparks hitting a steel plate, I presume a derelict car body could make sparks as well, but I'd also guess it would take a miracle for either one to light the of driest kindling.

Only with steel-core military surplus ammo. That is now as scarce as the tracer and incendiary rounds - statistically unlikely to cause any fires.