BIG BEAR, Calif. — For the second time in a week, fire patrols put out a brushfire in the San Bernardino National Forest. It burned a quarter acre and was quickly contained, but it could've been much worse. Mike Torres, who patrols for illegal campfires every day, says most of them start with small rings of rocks with ash in the center.
“This is what we’re looking for when we’re out patrolling is illegal campfires, which we do not want,” said Torres, a fire prevention technician with the San Bernardino National Forest. “Cause if you look around, we have a lot of dry leaves in the area and it can cause a wildland fire.”
The Fork fire is under investigation, but with the increase of visitors to the National Forest, Torres said he is worried it will happen again very soon. So Torres stays busy breaking up illegal campfires by disassembling the rocks and covering it with Earth. But it doesn’t take long to find another one. The forest is scattered with them.
“So we find these a lot here out in the forest,” Torres said. “The increase has been over 150% since last year and that’s just a conservative number. There’s more and more out there that we don’t know about. But this is just one of the few examples that we find.”
Originally from East LA, Torres grew up wanting to be a firefighter, but he also loves camping and the outdoors. He’s been a fire prevention technician since 2009 and his main goal, he said, is to preserve the forest for future generations.
And camper Eric Garcia is grateful. He came out here to celebrate his cousin’s birthday and he’s always careful when camping.
“We usually drop a little bit of water or sand on top of it until we don’t see any type of smoldering or anything like that,” Garcia said. “And when we see that stopping, we know it’s safe to pack up and leave.”
It's irresponsible campers Torres is concerned about. Illegal campfires are on the rise and with the weather heating up, it only takes a gust of wind to turn an ember into a fire. If caught, violators are required to show up to federal court, fined $5,000 or face imprisonment up to 6 months, or both.
“Signs are posted all over the San Bernardino Angeles Forest," Torres said. "If we catch you, we will cite you.”
Under current fire restrictions, building a campfire is only permitted in fire rings provided by the Forest Service at open developed recreation sites. And despite the increase of illegal campfires, Torres said he wants the public to know the forest is for everyone.
“This is a National Forest. It not only belongs to the animals, it also belongs to the community,” Torres said.