Rim Fire Caused By Hunter’s Fire, Not Pot Farm

In this photo provided by the U.S. Forest Service, members of the BLM Silver State Hotshot crew perform burn operations on the southern flank of the Rim Fire near Yosemite National Park in California Friday, Aug. 30, 2013. The blaze has scorched 343 square miles of brush, oaks and pines and 11 homes, as of Saturday Aug. 31, 2013. (AP Photo/U.S. Forest Service)

The Rim Fire that has burned for weeks in California was caused by a hunter’s illegal fire, U.S. Forest Service officials reported Thursday.

The hunter was in Tuolumne County when his fire got out of control, reported CBS Local. The hunter has not been arrested and authorities are still investigating, reported Time. 

A theory that an illegal marijuana-growing operation may have caused the fire was recently dismissed by Forest Service authorities. On August 23, Todd McNeal, fire chief in Twain Harte, a town affected by the Rim Fire that is still burning in California, told a community meeting: “We don’t know the exact cause. … [It is] highly suspect that there might have been some sort of illicit grove, a marijuana-grow-type thing.” 

The Forest Service had said the area the fire stared is too steep, hard to access, and unfavorable for irrigation to appeal to marijuana farmers, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Wednesday. 

Jerry Snyder, a Forest service spokesman, told the Chronicle: “We do have problems with marijuana grow sites, but in this area it’s very difficult terrain.”

The blaze was 80 percent contained as of Wednesday, but is expected to continue burning for a couple of weeks yet.