At 05:33 PM 5/17/2002 -0700, you wrote:

Off topic to geocaching, but I still think of great interest to those of us 
that love the outdoors.

>1)  Lightning is the usual cause of a 'natural wildfire'.

When I was fighting fire I would guess that about 80 to 85 percent of all 
our fires were lightning caused.  For the most part others were accidental 
fires caused by logging operations.

>2) If someone is found to have caused a fire, they are subject to criminal
>charges, but what's worse is they are liable in civil court for the
>suppression costs of a fire.  The cost of even a 'small' 40 acre fire can
>easily cost several thousand dollars to suppress.

I worked for the Clearwater-Potlatch Timber Protective Association 
www.cptpa.com which would contract with land owners, including the Forest 
Service for fire prevention and suppression.  They would pay for their 
contract and then get a bill for actual costs associated with fighting the 
fire.  As you said, normally thousands and thousands of dollars for even 
small sub-acre fires depending on where they were located.  If the land 
owner could find out who caused the fire they could collect that way, but 
it was very rare.



>7) As Scott mentions, more severe fire restrictions are in effect on the
>Coronado now, and a Forest Closure is not far off.  I suspect other Forests
>(and other agencies) will follow suit soon.

I really hate to see the closure of the forest, but on the other hand I can 
understand it.  I really wish we would get some rain so that it wouldn't be 
an issue.  I went down to Madera Canyon a couple weeks ago to find "Hang Em 
High" and was shocked to see how dry it was down there.

>rainfall.  Fuel moistures have to come up and that always lags the rain,
>i.e. the wood has to soak up some of that moisture.

I just read an article about El Nino coming back this year and that they 
are predicting a much drier summer thunderstorm season than normal.  I 
would hate to see a lot of lightning with out first getting the rain to 
offset the strikes.  If that is the case it could really limit a lot of 
geocaching activity in Arizona.


Scott
Team My Blue Heaven
www.myblueheaven.com/geocache