The fire in my area was fully contained overnight. 53 acres burned, one structure lost and no injuries to firefighters or civilians. Evacuation orders have been lifted.
To answer your question, Mrvette, no, there is no evidence that Islamic terrorists are setting any of the fires here. There has been one conviction of an arsonist, a white American male who set some fires in 2017. His sentence hearing is coming up soon. Most of the big fires here were caused by power company infrastructure that was old and not properly maintained and the vegetation around it was not properly cleared. Lightning is another common cause of wildland fires here, especially in the late summer and fall.
The fire we had yesterday appears to have started as a structure fire but no official cause yet, pending an investigation.
I've lived here for 28 years. We have fires of varying sizes every year. It is a freak event when all the conditions - high temps, high winds and low humidity combined with lots of dry fuel caused by drought years add up to a big fire getting out of control.
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