On the morning of Sunday, September 29, 2024, a volunteer at Eaton Canyon came across a lit candle in dry brush while removing trash deep within the park. The candle was discovered within a peculiar assortment of discarded items, including crab legs, a slice of sausage, and potatoes. The volunteer promptly extinguished the flame and searched the area for additional candles. There is no word on who is responsible for the careless and highly dangerous act.
Los Angeles County law (§ 326.13) prohibits the use of open flame devices in hazardous fire areas, including items like lighters. In cases like this, individuals found responsible for starting a wildfire at Eaton Canyon could face charges of criminal negligence. This term refers to behavior that disregards an obvious risk or the safety of others, often described by courts as recklessness—where a person acts far outside the bounds of what a reasonable individual would do under similar circumstances. If any deaths are caused by such wildfire, charges of second degree murder can be handed down.
This incident occurs during what is quickly shaping up to be a worse than average year for wildfires in Southern California. The #BridgeFire has already consumed nearly 55,000 acres of the Angeles National Forest. According to the National Forest Service, about 85% of all wildfires are caused by human activity.
Eaton Canyon last burned in the 1993 Kinneloa Fire, which was caused by a unattended illegal campfire at a small pine forest along the Mt. Wilson Toll road at the intersection with the Walnut Canyon Trail. That wildfire destroyed the Eaton Canyon Nature Center, 118 homes lining the canyon, and indirectly killed 3 people. Enormous amounts of brush, such as the area photographed below, have built up in the canyon over the past 31 years since the fire.
This is horrible, Edgar, this is allegedly / suspiciously how the 2002 Curve Fire started, suspected Christanic ritual with chickens and candles, a variant of Christian and Central American voodoo. There was an unpublished bit of evidence that the CDC back then emailed me about which helped to identify the religion likely being practiced.
I have also found candles in the middle of moist or lightly running creek beds which were unlit but surrounded by ritual artefacts, they had been left lit in the woods. It is a growing problem as America’s citizens get dumber and religious occult delusions get dumber with the populace 🙁
We also have problem with visitors in the ANF who bring Tiki torches and leave them ignited around their camp sites even during fire bans. They seem to think that “fires” means only camp fires. It’s a growing problem as the populace gets ever dumber.