Cyclists skeptical pedal set off fire
A lot of things can start a wildfire: lawn mowers, gunfire, smoldering cigarettes. It makes sense in a state dried out by drought.
But the latest culprit — a bike — is largely unheard of as a source of ignition, and is being met with disbelief in some circles.
U.S. Forest Service investigators say a bicycle pedal that scraped a rock and shot sparks on a mountain bike trail was responsible for a 122-acre blaze in the eastern Sierra this month, a finding that unleashed a firestorm of incredulity on the Internet.
“There is no chance in hell it happened like this. So absurd to even make this official,” wrote one of the more than 100 skeptics who commented on the Inyo National Forest’s Facebook page since the cause of the fire near Mammoth Lakes was reported last week.
“Unless there is clear video of this ‘pedal strike ignition,’ it is 99.999 percent anticyclist BS,” another person posted.
A mock image of a fire-starter kit, including a bicycle pedal, began circulating on social media in protest of Wednesday’s fire report.
Forest Service officials say they’re surprised by the backlash. But that doesn’t change their verdict on the Rock Creek Fire.
Fire prevention technician Kirstie Butler said a comprehensive investigation, which included locating a rock with a pedal scrap on it and speaking to several mountain bikers in the area at the time, revealed conclusively what caused the fire.
As unlikely as it may sound, she said, the afternoon of Aug. 5 was so hot and dry that a spark from a bike pedal against a rock, acting like a flint, was able to ignite cheatgrass and spread to brush and trees on the surrounding hillsides.
Butler did not say whether the Forest Service knows who was riding the bike that started the blaze. But she said the agency would not pursue charges because the ignition was not malicious.
The agency also does not intend to close any trails to bicyclists in the area as a safety precaution. The probability of a pedal causing a fire, officials said, remains extremely low.
The Rock Creek Fire prompted a brief evacuation of the community of Swall Meadows but no structural damage was done.
The Lower Rock Creek Trail, where the fire occurred, is a popular single-track biking path off Highway 395, about 20 miles south of Mammoth Lakes, partly in the Inyo National Forest.
While bicycle-caused fires are rare, they’re not unprecedented. The Forest Service did not have statistics on such fires immediately available.
“I’ve gotten calls from people saying, ‘I know you’re getting a lot of flak from this (conclusion about what started the fire) but, by the way, we’ve seen this happen before,’ ” Butler said.
Because of the blowback on social media, Butler said the Forest Service is thinking about providing more information to the public about the investigation.
“I kind of want to elaborate on Facebook,” she said. “I think we’ll probably on Wednesday see what it’s like after a week since the report and see about doing a reply.”