Western land managers received warnings from the FBI that terrorist groups might seize on dry conditions and stands of beetle-killed trees to ignite forest fires, which would cost millions to fight and create widespread chaos, Utah’s forester said last week.
“We took it quite seriously,” said Dick Buehler, director of the Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands. “It was distributed to all land-management agencies in the United States.”
In May, national news outlets reported that an al-Qaeda affiliated magazine, Inspire, published articles encouraging people to set fires in the United States. Buehler said the methods that were discussed in the advisory “didn’t really make sense.”
He said the communication discussed lighting fires in the tops or crowns of the trees, so they would spread, but a fire will typically “crown” and jump across wide areas if it is burning big, and hot and strong winds are blowing.
Buehler said forests in Utah, Idaho and Montana were specifically targeted.
From The Working Forest: https://workingforest.com/utah-foresters-took-terrorist-threats-seriously/?utm_source=Thursday%2C+September+20%2C+2012&utm_campaign=Thursday%2C+September+20%2C+2012&utm_medium=email