Hunter Charged with Starting Rim Fire

A deer hunter has been charged for starting the Rim Fire in California. This was the third largest fire in California history, and burned for two months and consumed more than 250,000 acres near Yosemite National Park.

Many people don't realize how easily fire propagates when the forest gets really, really dry.

Some years ago, I was out hiking in the local mountains and I thought - "just too dry. This will be my last trip until we get some rain this fall." Forty-eight hours later, a 21,000 acre fire was started, and went wildly out of control, the result of ricochets from some target practice. I have heard of fires started by sunlight focused through pop bottles, but I am not sure about that.