Bonfire blamed for sparking Santa Barbara wildfire

[XemaSab]

Source: Associated Press

A bonfire built by a group of young adults caused a weekend wildfire in Santa Barbara that destroyed 210 homes, including multimillion dollar mansions, and injured more than two dozen people, authorities said Tuesday.

An anonymous tip led to the discovery that 10 college students had gathered for a late night hangout at an abandoned property where the fire originated, Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown said. He declined to say which college the students attended.

"It appears this fire was the result of carelessness, not criminal intent," Brown said.

No criminal charges have been filed, but the county district attorney will review the case, Brown said.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/11/16/national/a092152S65.DTL

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If three poor farmworkers can be charged for starting the Zaca fire, why not charge these idiots? :shrug:

[Auggie]

1. They should have the book thrown at them.

Hopefully it'll be aflame.

You don't play with fire in California during fire season. Everybody knows that.

[Blue For You]

2. Maybe colleges should start teaching these children

not to play with matches.

[whatdoyouthink]

3. I think

they ? should have there future wages - for life attached, say 50%
fire + California = Fill in blank ________________ duh!

[DRoseDARs]

4. Oh what a bunch of bullshit. It was the godless faggots that did it. James Hartline says so!

:sarcasm:

[XemaSab]

9. Who says the kids weren't gay?

:shrug::hide:

[KamaAina]

20. In that case, wouldn't Connecticut be on fire instead?

:shrug:

:sarcasm:

[rpannier]

5. You mean it wasn't God that started the fire????

Wow. Was I seriously misinformed?

Either that...or the liberal media is at it again. Trying to undermine the work of the Almighty.

[tabatha]

6. Fire should be banned in high fire warning periods.

There should be huge fines if anyone is found to ignore the ban.

In Los Padres Forest, no fires are allowed in grilling areas during the dry season.

[Hekate]

11. It is banned. The county was on a freakin' red flag alert with Santa Ana winds expected...

I have to wonder if these young people were raised in a rain forest somewhere to have been so utterly, utterly clueless.

A married couple that my SIL knows are in the Burn Unit in Orange County as we speak, having had to be helicoptered over there from Santa Barbara. Yes, we have a hyperbaric chamber here, but they were too critical for it.

I fully expect the judge to throw the book at them. :-(

Hekate

[Sequoia]

14. You're the 2nd person to say that. Where did "throw the book" originate?

Somewhere there must be a big book of cliche orgins. These students should have to pay for their carelessness; everyone else does who starts a fire.

[tabatha]

17. Yes, they have to be made an example.

Throw the book at someone, To. To charge them with a particular offence; to inflict a severe punishment on them. The 'book' is an imaginary book of rules or of offences and their prescribed penalties. The expression dates from the 1930s and is of American origin.
From _Brewer's Dictionary of Modern Phrase and Fable_ (2000) by Adrian Room

[Sequoia]

21. Okay. Books hurt when they're hit you.

[Hekate]

19. A law book is a nice heavy object. Start looking through it to enumerate all the offenses...

... and you might as well throw it at the defendants. Also see Post 17 by Tabatha.

Hekate

[aquart]

7. Fine. Sentence them to clean up the mess.

Even if it takes the rest of their worthless lives.

WHAT IDIOT STARTS A FIRE DURING A SANTA ANA????

[bertman]

8. Ahhhh, let's see. How about young, drunk, partying idiots? What's the chance?

[XemaSab]

10. If they are found guilty

they will have to pay for the costs of fighting the fire.

That will hurt for a long, long time.

[fasttense]

12. Bonfire of the vanities?

But really, if condition were so ripe for this massive fire, wasn't it just a matter of time before something would have sparked it?

If it hadn't been the college students, what about a bolt of lightning, a careless cigarette smoker, a turned over barbecue? Wasn't it just a matter of time before a fire started in such bad conditions?

Yes, the students were stupid but if the stage is set for a huge fire, it will start one way or another.

It's a real shame that people have to suffer such devastation. Why do we allow it?

We as a society could mandate more strict building codes in fire, flood, earthquake, and tornado zones. There is some amazing technology out there that could be used to prevent such massive destruction and suffering.

[WVRICK13]

13. WTF

That logic is totally bizarre. I guess since all humans will eventually die it is acceptable and excusable to kill them. GEEEZ.

[uncle ray]

16. is it unreasonable to expect

people who build multimillion dollar homes in a tinder box to build them to be fire resistant? the other poster may have chosen some words poorly, but the point is "the big one" is going to happen. californians know this whether the big one is a quake or a fire. yes the students should pay, but it is ridiculous to suggest that they should be made to pay hundreds of millions, just as the 101 million dollar ruling against a homeless man who started two fires by accident is ridiculous.

[underdoggie]

15. or better yet

or better yet,
we could just mandate that
everyone w/o exceptions
pray harder 5 times a day
to THE right God who art in Heaven,
hollow be His name...

[snooper2]

18. It's just a matter of time till your car is all fucked up looking

So maybe we can come over and throw bricks and hammers at it for fun? :rofl: