The following is a press release from the CAL FIRE Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit The information has not been proven in a court of law and any individuals described should be presumed innocent until proven guilty:
CAL FIRE Law Enforcement arrested an adult male from Wheatland in connection to the cause of the 16-acre Adams Fire Wednesday afternoon off of Main Street in Lower Lake.
The subject was arrested and released with a notice to appear in court on three misdemeanor charges for violations of Health and Safety Code § 13001 as well as California Public Resource Codes § 4431 and § 4435.
The cause of the Adams Fire was determined to be the result of weed-eating in dry grass.
Given the combination of extreme heat, elevated fire conditions, and an abundant, cured grass and shrub crop. across most of California, CAL FIRE will be instituting maximum enforcement on human-caused wildfires.
Lawn mowers, weed-eaters, chainsaws, grinders, welders, tractors and trimmers can all spark a wildland fire. Defensible space work is critical to help create a perimeter around your home to protect it from a wildfire, but only when done under the right weather conditions. CAL FIRE officials urge the public to avoid any activities that may ignite a wildfire.
The Adams Fire started at 3:09 p.m. on July 3 near the 16200 block of Main Street in Lower Lake. It quickly spread in the 100-plus degree conditions in grass-oak woodland and multiple structures were threatened. The Lake County Sheriff’s Office initiated evacuation orders for Zone LOW-E169 south of Main Street and evacuation warnings for zones LOW-E170 and LOW-E176. All evacuation orders and warnings have since been lifted.
Thanks to an aggressive attack by air and ground resources, crews quickly contained the fire. The fire is now 90 percent contained and held at 16 acres.
No residential structures were damaged or destroyed in the fire.
The CAL FIRE Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit, Lake County Fire Protection District and Lake County Sheriff’s Office were in Unified Command of the Adams Fire.
To learn more about preparing for the threat of wildfire, visit ReadyForWildfire.org.
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Wow! How ignorant are these chuckleheads?! He should sit in jail until court, so he can think about how reckless his actions were, and the threat to life and property he caused!
My neighbor decided that 11am yesterday was the perfect time to spend an hour or two weed-eating and this is exactly the kind of worst-case scenario that popped into my head. I told myself “eh, you’re being paranoid. How often could that really be happening?”
Well, looks like I was right to question his intelligence. But hey, what’s more important than keeping up appearances, right? And if our entire community burns down as a result, then nobody will have a nicer yard!
Harsh sentence
Trying to follow State mandated rules for defensible space and you get arrested
Mowing, weed eating, chain sawing, etc., all should be completed before 10 am. In this heatwave, probably should avoid the risk of starting a fire.