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[Trojita]

http://www.wweek.com/news/2017/09/05/woman-witnessed-teen-tossing-firecrackers-into-gorge-there-was-a-whole-group-of-kids-who-found-it-funny-to-do-this/

Portland resident Liz FitzGerald witnessed a teenage boy throwing the firecrackers that are believed to have sparked a wildfire now tearing through more than 10,000 acres of the Columbia River Gorge. She alerted police.

This afternoon, Oregon State Police announced that the suspect is a 15-year-old boy from Vancouver, Wash.

FitzGerald first told her story to Oregon Public Broadcasting this morning. She then gave a detailed recounting of the events of Sept. 2 to WW.

Here's her account of what she saw.

I went up and saw the sign that said the trail was closed at 3 miles because of the fire.

When I came up to 1.5 miles up the trail, I came upon a large group of teenagers. They were kind of flanking the trail and I walked right in between them. I was standing right next to one of them who was filming and about four people away from me I saw a young boy lob a smoke bomb down into the ravine.

I said 'Do you realize how dangerous it is what you just did? They have the trail closed up ahead because of a raging wildfire.' I wanted to underscore the severity of what they just did. I said 'This whole area is so dry.'

They didn't say anything. And after he lobbed it I thought I heard a couple of girls giggle and the guy just filmed it like it was no big deal. And then they just continued down the trail.

Right when that came to me, I saw this couple coming down from the mountain and I said to them, 'I just saw a teenager throw a firecracker down into the ravine and I think its smoking.' And they said 'Yea, we saw them up at Punch Bowl lighting off firecrackers.'

I turned around and I started running down the mountain and I ran past where I had seen them and I looked down and at that point it was huge amounts of smoke and I could smell that the forest was on fire.

I passed the teenagers at that point. It was a smaller group of maybe seven or nine. Just as I was passing them I said 'Do you realize you just started a forest fire?' and the kid said, 'Well, what are we supposed to do about it now?' And I yelled over my shoulder 'Call the freaking fire department!'

I felt like I was having a nightmare and I still feel like I am because they had no reaction that I could see. I don't know these kids but just looking at them… and when they walked down the mountain, when I came upon them they were walking a very casual pace down the mountain.

I felt like I was in a nightmare because these kids were not reacting the way I felt normal people would react. It was all very frustrating.

I really felt like it's not just that one boy that lobbed it. He had a friend that filmed it. There was a whole group of kids who found it funny to do this. The girl's expression as she drove by. None of them seemed at all to understand what they were doing.

 

[C.Mongler]

These kids need Smokey

 

[ElectricBlanketFire]

Teenagers are the worst.

 

[How About No]

There is no societal value to these children.

 

[Vagabundo]

Sounds like typical teenagers to me.

 

[wandering]

Moon was red last night from all the ash around Portland. Still hazy today.

 

[cpp_is_king]

Classic millenials.

Spoiler

(Millenials are responsible for all the bad things in the world, right?)

 

[ShadowSwordmaster]

Moon was red last night from all the ash around Portland. Still hazy today.

It's still red in Boise too.

 

[ahoyhoy]

So the forest was already on fire but then some kids lit yet another fire?

What?

 

[Futureman]

so the trail was already closed due to a fire... wouldn't that mean it probably wasn't these kids? I guess I just don't have a handle on the timing of everything.

what they did was obviously so stupid and MAY have started a fire, but is there proof that what they did caused the massive forest fire?

So the forest was already on fire but then some kids lit yet another fire?

What?

yea...

 

[BronsonLee]

See what happens when Henry isn't around to throw their stereo into the river?!

 

[Inferno313]

Classic millenials.

Spoiler

(Millenials are responsible for all the bad things in the world, right?)

I know you're just making a joke, but 15 year olds aren't millennials.

 

[Zen Aku]

Sounds like typical teenagers to me.

Nah these aren't typical teenagers. These are something else.

 

[cpp_is_king]

I know you're just making a joke, but 15 year olds aren't millennials.

Hmm, I thought millenial cutoff was early 2000s? So they'd be right on the cusp. What comes after millenials?

 

[ClosingADoor]

Just a prank, bro. Waiting for the idiots to upload their video to Youtube.

 

[Jeff-DSA]

How stupid do you have to be to be lighting fireworks near a closed trail that was closed due to a fire?!

 

[wandering]

I know you're just making a joke, but 15 year olds aren't millennials.

It's funny when 30-somethings call teenagers millennials.

 

[jack_package_200]

Dumbass teens.

Throw the book at them and their parents.

 

[Condom]

Sounds like typical teenagers to me.

No. These are assholes that need punishment.

Being a teenager doesn't mean you can get off free from doing this. They know they are in the wrong. Punish them.

 

[veryslowhand]

Judge their asses as adults.

 

[5taquitos]

Hmm, I thought millenial cutoff was early 2000s? So they'd be right on the cusp. What comes after millenials?

I've heard iGeneration before.

Generation labels are always stupid.

 

[Inferno313]

Hmm, I thought millenial cutoff was early 2000s? So they'd be right on the cusp. What comes after millenials?

Generation Z is the term I've seen used most often. Most sources cut off millennials around the mid-late 90s, but some do count them into the early 2000s, so you're not totally wrong to be fair. Whereas Gen Z is typically early 2000s-forward.

 

[Hindl]

Hmm, I thought millenial cutoff was early 2000s? So they'd be right on the cusp. What comes after millenials?

Generation Z or the iGeneration, started in the late 90s. Basically, if a person doesn't remember life before Facebook, Youtube, and the internet becoming huge in the early 2000s, they aren't a millennial

 

[jack_package_200]

Fucking worthless shitstain teenagers.

I am also not surprised the suspect is from Vancouver, Washington. All you have from there is dumbasses, metheads, and nazis.

 

[chadskin]

See what happens when Henry isn't around to throw their stereo into the river?!

First thing that come to my mind when I read the title.

 

[Mikey Jr.]

Teenagers are the worst.

I agree.

 

[wandering]

Fucking worthless shitstain teenagers.

I am also not surprised the suspect is from Vancouver, Washington. All you have from there is dumbasses, metheads, and nazis.

 

[Piggus]

Thanks a lot, cockstains. It's fucking miserable here in southern Oregon. Worst smoke I've ever seen here.

 

[Trojita]

I think the implication was that they started the fire, were still up there throwing more fireworks when they came down, by then the original fires were already large enough to be noticeable to cause trails to be closed down, person interviewed in the article saw the teenagers as they were heading down.

 

[cpp_is_king]

On a more serious note, this reminds me of the story from a couple of years ago where these two girls killed one of their friends because, in their own words, they were bored.

These kids were probably in the same state of mind. "Guys I'm bored, let's go burn down a forest"

Sometimes I don't even understand this world anymore.

 

[Bio-Frost]

Fuck these teenagers. Been wearing a mask to work and when i go out to get food and shit. Been on the regular 200+ air pollution here in Bend. So many things destroyed just for some little shits to have a laugh?

 

[hydragonwarrior]

Crap parenting.

 

[Van Bur3n]

How one can lack enough common sense not to do that shit in a forest escapes me. Even for teenagers.

 

[jack_package_200]

Thanks a lot, cockstains. It's fucking miserable here in southern Oregon. Worst smoke I've ever seen here.

Live in portland. It was surreal walking to work yesterday and having ash fall from the fucking sky.

 

[vatstep]

Idiots.

 

[FunkyMunkey]

Sounds like typical teenagers to me.

starting forest fires and behaving casual about it is NOT typical teenage behavior, quit projecting

 

[Stinkles]

Kids were a mistake.

starting forest fires and behaving casual about it is NOT typical teenage behavior, quit projecting

No, but it is common. These aren't some weird outlier.

 

[grandjedi6]

They should have to spend their next 3 summers volunteering in the clean up from this wild fire.

 

[wandering]

Air quality index over 400 in Ashland, Spokane predicted to go into hazardous territory soon. Stay safe, PNW-GAF

 

[xxracerxx]

Sounds like typical teenagers to me.

FUCK THAT.

It is not typical teenage behavior, I hope if you have kids you teach them better than their parents did.

 

[FunkyMunkey]

No, but it is common. These aren't some weird outlier.

kids not caring is common? sure. but teens throwing firecrackers and other flammables into a dry forest and then not caring when someone exclaims they started a forest fire? i doubt it

and describing this as common or typical teenage behavior is a flippant dismissal of this crap, and it's why we'll read about how the kids "got a stern talking-to and no dessert after dinner" as their punishment, because after all they don't know better and are just typical teens going to the mall, the movies, skateboarding, starting forest fires, the usual

 

[jack_package_200]

Fucking hell.

Image does look like a perfect metaphor for 2017

 

[Atomic Playboy]

Being in Portland, the atmosphere is surreal. I was driving home last night, and there was so much smoke through the city that giant skyscrapers would just appear as if emerging from a mystical fog bank. Even today, there's so much smoke that the sun barely registers as existing. This was taken this morning:

Here's one from Washington looking across the Columbia River Monday night:

Our house was too hot to keep all our windows closed all night, and when we woke up, there was a fine layer of ash throughout our bedroom. I've never seen it like this in Portland. People who were around in 1980 have been comparing it to the St. Helens eruption, though that dropped significantly more ash.

Thanks a lot, cockstains. It's fucking miserable here in southern Oregon. Worst smoke I've ever seen here.

Southern Oregon wouldn't be affected by this; y'all are near the MUCH larger Chetco Bar fire near Brookings that was literally 10 times the size of the Eagle Creek fire. Or if you're around Eugene, there's multiple fires going in Umpqua National Forest and up near Sisters. It's kind of staggering how much of the West is currently on fire right now, actually.

 

[Extra Sauce]

Hmm, I thought millenial cutoff was early 2000s? So they'd be right on the cusp. What comes after millenials?

Pain and sorrow.

 

[mYm|17|]

Such a sad site to see in the Gorge. Hopefully the air quality starts to get better soon with the cooler air coming in and winds pushing this awful air westward.

 

[Malreyn]

Hmm, I thought millenial cutoff was early 2000s? So they'd be right on the cusp. What comes after millenials?

The worst generation.....the next generations are always the worst

 

[MogCakes]

Sociopaths, the lot of them.

 

[breakYODAy]

I think we need to ban personal fireworks in the Pacific NW. Every person I've ever been around using them turns into a cheap thrill obsessed blithering idiot. People can go to shows if they want to see them.

We can't afford fires like this caused directly by human stupidity when climate change is already increasing the number we have each year.

 

[Oppo]

I think we need to ban personal fireworks in the Pacific NW.

They're not nearly as common in Canada as the USA but I'd ban them too. Or at least put really strict measures on the firing of them.

fuckin drunk idiots set them off in the middle of the street on Canada Day.

 

[TheJollyCorner]

See what happens when Henry isn't around to throw their stereo into the river?!

This is a wonderful reference, Bronson.