Now that we're in somewhat of a lull in major wildfires currently burning in California (okay, there are still several), it's time to return to the topic of last year's Rim Fire, which became the third biggest in state history and the biggest ever in the Sierra Nevadas, and was all allegedly sparked by the stupidity of one man. A federal grand jury this week charged 32-year-old Keith Matthew Emerald, formerly of Half Moon Bay and now residing in Columbia, California — a town not far from where the fire started in Tuolumne County.

Emerald was indicted on two felony and two misdemeanor counts, including one charge for lying to federal investigators who repeatedly interviewed him and to whom he gave several different answers with regard to the campfire he most probably started. At first Emerald denied lighting a campfire, and at one point tried to blame marijuana growers in the area. Then he said that he caused a rockslide that sparked the fire. And then he admitted that he lit a small fire to cook some food after hunting and burn some trash, and some embers flew up the canyon and ignited some brush. He admitted in a written statement that "the terrain was almost vertical, so I physically couldn't put it out," as ABC 7 reports.

An hour after the Rim Fire began, Emerald had to be rescued by helicopter in the Clavey River Canyon area of the Stanislaus National Forest.

The fire, which was named for a nearby scenic overlook called "The Rim of the World," ultimately burned 400 square miles of the Stanislaus National Forest and part of Yosemite National Park, destroyed 11 homes, three commercial buildings, 98 outbuildings, as well as the City of Berkeley's Tuolomne Family Camp. It cost taxpayers $127 million in firefighting costs alone, and the environmental impacts are still being assessed.

We've known via investigators since last September that a lone hunter's campfire was the suspected cause of the massive blaze, but he had not been publicly identified until now.

As the Mercury News reports, if convicted, Emerald could face five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. He had previously expressed concern about community retaliation if his name made it into the press. You think?

[ABC 7]
[Mercury-News]

Previously: Hunter's Campfire Caused Rim Fire