Blaze threatens ‘Emerald Triangle’
The largest wildfire in California history is threatening the country’s biggest marijuanagrowing region.
SANTA ROSA >> The largest wildfire in California history is threatening the country’s biggest marijuana-growing region, and authorities are warning people in the area to protect themselves — not their crops — if it comes time to evacuate.
The August Complex Fire has burned through more than 1,100 square miles across five counties in Northern California and is on a westward path that threatens the rugged and famed Emerald Triangle, known for its marijuana farms, The Press Democrat reported.
“There are thousands of folks that migrate into Mendocino, Humboldt and Trinity counties every year, and they are not familiar with the territory let alone a massive wildland fire knocking at their door,” said state Sen. Mike McGuire, who represents the North Coast.
The region’s rural communities, about 200 miles north of San Francisco, have been rooted in cannabis cultivation for decades. But the same sheltered landscape — thick public and private forest — that gave rise to a blackmarket pot empire is also likely to sustain flames until significant rains arrive.
The fire, which was only 30% contained as of Tuesday, has already burned around the community of Kettenpom in southern Trinity County. It threatens to push toward Alder Point in Humboldt County and has burned into the ridges outside Covelo in northern Mendocino County, the newspaper reported.