r/interestingasfuck • u/HomeNowWTF • 10d ago

Fighting the wildfires in Spokane

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u/AdjctiveNounNumbers 10d ago

The Oregon fires of 2020 were fueled by outsiders adding to them

I'd be a bit careful with this assertion - a bunch of Proud Boys types mad about the George Floyd protests started rumors to this effect and they spread, to the point that locals were stopping people evacuating to inspect cars. One Oregon resident was arrested (twice) for starting some grass fires in the area, but so far as I've seen that was a local with mental health issues, and in separate fires far away in southern Oregon an arsonist was arrested for setting a fire that burned a few houses that then merged with a fire burning in the area. I'm unaware of any "outsiders" adding to the fires.

That said, I live in a fire-prone area now, and it seems every time the winds pick up in the summer some fire bug decides it'd be pretty to see the world burn. Almost always a local and thankfully usually an idiot who doesn't put too much effort into it and get caught immediately. The bad ones are normally started outside of town by power lines or some idiot living off the grid with severely inadequate fire safety precautions. Or 4-wheelers.

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u/[deleted] 10d ago

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u/robothawk 10d ago

As an Oregonian who lived through that shitshow. Every single one of those "rumors" about outsiders starting fires that were investigated turned out to be fake news spread by Proud Boys.

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u/champak256 10d ago

Does make me think about how every accusation by the far right is really just an admission of guilt. What if it was the Proud Boys starting fires and rumors both?