As of 7:45 pm Thursday evening CALFIRE has confirmed that the Morgan Territory Fire is now 95% contained and a total of 3,133 acres have burned. It is also being reported that the fire was caused by “target shooting” which likely set off a spark in a dry area causing a fire to start. No further details were released.
All evacuation orders and the remaining road closure have been lifted.
Firefighters continue mopping up inside the fire containment lines. Demobilization of resources will continue. Fire resources are still in the communities so residents need to be aware and use caution when driving in the fire area.
Road Closures
All evacuations and road closures have been lifted
Cooperating Agencies Include:
CAL FIRE, East Contra Costa Fire Protection District, Contra Costa Fire Protection District, San Ramon Valley Fire, East Bay Regional Parks, CALOES, CDCR, California State Parks, California Highway Patorl, CalTrans, Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Department, Contra Costa Public Works, Clayton PD, PG&E, America Red Cross and the Salvation Army.
- Total Fire Personnel: 452
- Total Fire Engines: 27
- Total Fire Crews: 12
- Total Dozers: 5
- Total Water Tenders: 7
Morgan Incident Report
http://cdfdata.fire.ca.gov/incidents/incidents_details_info?incident_id=908
10 comments
I am a target shooter myself, and have never seen fire come from spent bullets. Were they using illegal tracer rounds? I’m at a loss here to see how ordinary lead bullets caused a fire, especially when proper gun safety procedures were followed.
Me too. How about from hot spent casings? That’s no place to drop em. But there’s no mention in the article of any found.
My worry is, the anti gunners here will use this to fuel their push to take guns away from us law abiding citizens, blaming all of us for the careless action of an individual, as with all anti-gun causes every time there is a shooting.
I’ve picked up shell casings immediately after firing them. They are hot, but not that hot! Plus, you are supposed to look around the target area before and after you shoot for safety. Any smoldering fire should have been stopped at that point.
Maybe they were using those reactive targets that you can get just about anywhere but California.
FMJ (full metal jacketed) rounds hitting as rock will create a spark, thats all it takes to start a fire.
Unless the shooter was using illegal tracer rounds, I’m calling BS on the cause “they” established. Explain yourselves Mr./Mrs. Fire Investigator!
It’s called ricochet, folks. Not exactly uncommon. There have been several major fires in the US attributed to target shooting ricochet.
It’s not the round or the casing. It’s what the round is bouncing off of.
Night vision of a round strike:
http://mydin.deviantart.com/art/Night-Vision-142176405
Sure, it’s possible, but I’m concerned about the mass gun grab machine here in CA being fueled even more by the careless action of one shooter. If they would have had a proper backing for the target, such as a soft dirt berm, there would have not been any ricochets. Also, they should have checked around and behind the target afterwards to make sure nothing was smoldering. Common sense there. Of course, we don’t have the facts yet. It could have been a gangbanger shooting out there, since they aren’t likely to go to a legal shooting range to practice, since felons aren’t supposed to have a gun. Ironically, the ban on lead ammunition you liberals are pushing will only increase this danger, as steel shot and rounds will create far more sparks than soft lead rounds.
Well there could have been a spark of the person was shooting at metal targets and not paper targets.
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