The incident commander says the Murphy Fire was started by a man in distress

The Murphy Complex Fire, which torched more than 68,000 acres of Coronado National Forest land north and west of Nogales, was started by a man in distress, according to the lead firefighter. Asked how he knows the cause of the fire, Incident Commander Mark South, a longtime wild-lands firefighter, says, "Well, when they pull out a guy who is dehydrated and going into renal failure, and he admits starting it and says he needs help, that's a pretty good indication." The man's identity and legal status have not been released. But South says Border Patrol agents at the scene told him that the man was likely part of a group of 10 or 12 people. The area where the fire started is along the Peck Canyon Corridor, heavily used by drug-smugglers, illegal aliens and armed bandits who prey on both groups. Lobo Tank is about three miles north of Mesquite Seep, where Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was murdered on Dec. 14, 2010. Speaking out for the first time, South tells the Tucson Weekly that the Lobo and Murphy fires were both distress fires. He says Border Patrol and Forest Service agents on the scene believed the distressed man, rescued from Lobo Tank on Monday, May 30, might also have started the Murphy Fire, but they weren't sure. "But we do know that certain individuals came out of the burned area in the couple of days while we were out there in Arivaca," says South. "They took the dehydrated guy out Monday. Then Tuesday, there were two or three (people who) they picked up who were struggling, and I think Wednesday, there were a couple more." Forest Service officials did not return several calls for comment. When the Weekly asked the Border Patrol to respond to South's statement that they removed a distressed man from the scene of the Murphy Fire, Alilia McNeal, the agency's branch chief of external communications, responded with an e-mail statement provided to them by the Forest Service: "The U.S. Forest Service did interview a person of interest that the U.S. Border Patrol had in medical custody. The U.S. Forest Service did not request the U.S. Border Patrol to detain the person of interest. The investigation continues and the U.S. Forest Service will not comment on continuing investigations." A federal source familiar with the matter says the Forest Service decided not to prosecute the case because it was a signal fire under life-and-death circumstances. Is it standard federal policy not to prosecute distressed individuals who start signal fires? Is the policy the same for citizens and illegal aliens?...more

A big Hat Tip to Hugh Holub.

Hugh says:

It is becoming clearer and clearer all three recent border fires were linked to illegal aliens or drug smuggling.

The fires were started by people who should not have been on federally-managed lands if our border was secured.

In the case of the Murphy Fire west of Nogales there is mounting evidence that not only did illegal aliens start the fire, they were caught and then deported because the Forest Service did not want to prosecute them for starting the fire.

Read the rest of his excellent coverage here. Also see his Leo Banks is getting closer to the truth about the border fires

Meanwhile, in Montana the Forest Service has filed charges against a man for illegally cutting down 5 trees (see my next post).

So, Forest Service policy must be the following: A citizen who cuts down 5 trees - fines and jail time. Illegal aliens responsible for burning down over 300,000 acres - no fine, no jail time, just go home and we'll see ya again next fire season.

But don't worry, Smokey Bear is back.