Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, September 4, 1995 TAG: 9509050090
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-2 EDITION: HOLIDAY
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: SAN FRANCISCO LENGTH: Medium
And legislation passed by Congress in July could add even more fuel to the billion-dollar fire sale, critics say.
In the Southeast, 90 percent of the forest fires on federal land are deliberately set, says Allen Polk of the U.S. Forest Service. The figure is lower in the West, where lightning is a major factor - but that doesn't tell the whole story.
In California, only 12.8 percent of fires on state-controlled land are arson - but they account for 71.5 percent of the dollar damage, said Karen Terrill of the state forestry department.
Some arsonists light fires for the thrill, and farmers touch off many others with illegal burns to clear their land, especially in the Southeast.
But some federal law enforcement officials are convinced there are many more arson-for-profit fires than reported.
``It's a nightmare for law enforcement,'' says U.S. Attorney Charles Stevens of California's Eastern District. ``And regulatory agencies might be inclined to err on the side of a low number because people might infer they are not doing the job.''
Forest fires are a big industry. The nation spent $757 million fighting fires on federal land last year, and hard-hit California spent $60 million more on state lands.
Large blazes generate contracts for everything from water tankers and bulldozers to fire crews, food and toilet paper - and generate them fast.
Stevens says money was the dominant factor behind a series of fires in his district's extensive federal forest lands. ``Based on our observations, the overwhelming majority of the fires there were arson for profit, 80 to 90 percent,'' he said.
The most glaring example, Stevens says, was a string of blazes in 1992-93 in the Trinity and Shasta county areas of Northern California.
Ernest Earl Ellison, 33, pleaded guilty to helping set the fires, and was sentenced last month to 151/2 months in prison. Ellison owned a water tender truck - which he leased to the U.S. Forest Service to fight the fires he set.
Stevens said he believes there are many other Ellisons out there.
The financial motives, already strong, may be getting stronger.
A ``salvage logging'' provision slipped into the $16 billion budget-cutting bill approved by Congress and signed by President Clinton in July makes it easier for timber companies to cut otherwise exempt trees after a fire.
In May, U.S. Magistrate Thomas Coffin in Portland, Ore., wrote of the danger of the policy in ruling for the Sierra Club's suit to prevent logging after a 1991 arson fire in the Warner Creek area near Eugene.
``The effect of selling arson fire-damaged timber could be future acts of arson,'' the magistrate wrote in May. ``Allowing salvage logging after arson in areas where the removal of timber has been limited may provide an economic incentive....''
by CNB