INVESTIGATORS ARE BLAMING POT FARMERS FOR CALIFORNIA WILDFIRES!

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -- Investigators said Tuesday they believe marijuana growers with possible ties to Mexican drug cartels caused an 88,650-acre wildfire in northern Santa Barbara County, and there are many more pot farms hidden in remote areas around the nation.
"No pun intended, it's a growing problem," U.S. Forest Service Special Agent Russ Arthur said.

Arthur said an unspecified "cooking device" left at an encampment by suspected drug traffickers sparked the blaze on Aug. 8 that has scorched more than 137 square miles of brush and timber and briefly threatened two dozen ranches and homes.

About 30,000 marijuana plants and an AK-47 assault rifle were found near the origin of the blaze in a remote canyon in Los Padres National Forest, authorities said at a news conference. Arthur said the plants' quality is similar to marijuana linked to Mexican drug cartels, though he acknowledged the investigation into the link was ongoing.

"The type of location, the remoteness, the situation of the encampment, the type of plants, the quality ... it fits the same M.O. (modus operandi) as all the others we've worked," around the nation, Arthur said.

Fire crews were making progress against the fire on Tuesday, and it was 75 percent contained.

Farther north, a blaze in the Santa Cruz Mountains was 80 percent surrounded. All but about 20 of some 2,200 evacuees had been allowed back home by Sunday. The fire has burned more than 7,100 acres, or about 11.2 square miles.

Authorities lifted the last evacuations Tuesday in Northern California's Sierra Nevada foothills, where a wildfire has charred more than 3,500 acres, or 5.6 square miles. The fire, which destroyed two homes when it first broke Friday, was 45 percent contained.

The Santa Barbara County wildfire was the first in county history to have been caused by drug traffickers but such operations typically cause three to four smaller blazes in California each year, Arthur said.

Investigators said it's believed the number of clandestine marijuana farms in the United States is rising as international drug cartels turn to public lands.

"We have evidence that most of these types of marijuana grows are the work of drug organizations out of Mexico," Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bob Brown said. "The profits that are earned through the sales of the marijuana grows are pumped back to the drug cartels and they use the money to fuel the violence south of the border."

Tens of thousands of marijuana plants have been seized in recent weeks as federal, state and local officials stage annual harvest-season sweeps for clandestine farms.



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