It's a known tactic. Someone wants a portion of land for mining or development but it's a protected forest. So they handout big cash to the locals to take care of it. And it becomes dangerous to first responders because they aren't only fighting the fire.
this post was submitted on 18 May 2026
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Another reason, thanks to this nutjob, why the USA needs to increase gun control. If the dumb mofo would have missed, there's a stray bullet that will hit something or someone.
When you'd rather burn your home down around you and die trying.
Shit, even the fire have gun now!
The right to burn arms.
firearms
In Minnesota, you also gotta watch out for bear arms.
that all changed when the Fire Nation attacked
You mean the right to arm fires?
It was right there!
I'm joining the war on fire on the side of fire
Well, as far as damage locations go, it's about as innocuous as you could hope for... Rear rudder, thankfully missing the actual control linkages. It just tore some aluminum, that's all.
I wonder if the pilot was ex-military, I don't think I'd recognize the sound of a bullet striking the plane. Though I would certainly also return to the airfield after a birdstrike, any impact is a hazard.
Sure was a dick move though... I mean to shoot at emergency response workers, they're trying to save lives and homes.
It's not even the first time. There was that time a year ago when a far right nutjob ambushed some firefighters and killed two of them.
Funny how the magats and their allies in the media didn't make a big hoopla about that.
These water bomber pilots are flying some of the most precise manouvers on earth. It would be fairly safe to bet all have flown in the service.
Some people I know have remained friendly with some conspiracy theorists since Covid (I just stopped interacting when they told me I’d be dead by 2022 because I received the vaccine) and I’ve heard that one of the current theories is that the government is starting the wildfires for some reason.
forced burns are a forest fire management tactic.
It depends on the theory. I'm a "Bigfoot", "ufo" (none of this new shit, weather balloons and probes only!), and "Kubrick left the original set for the moon landing filming conspiracy on the moon" conspiracy theories only. Regular conspiracy theorists scare me
It's to force states to start raking their forests.
What's worse is the thought that forests can't take care of themselves absent human involvement. These huge fires are because humans artificially prevented the natural cycle of fires for more than a century. Now with so much built up overgrowth, it is out of control.
The usual method of the forest taking care of the itself is burning. Trying to extinguish the fires to protect houses that should not exist there in the first place is the unnatural part.
So can we rake it and use it what we collect for anything useful?
I think people do that already :D
Close. It's (often) government funded utility companies.
And the reason is nefarious: invest as little in infrastructure as possible to maximize profits.
Are they government funded? Like the best example I know off the top of my head is PG&E which afaik has nothing to do with government funded.
tecnically the us gov does start some (in)directly through cuts in funding
For oil profits.
I mean that’s not what the conspiracy nuts will tell you, they “researched” the cover story. Also, it’s kind of a side-effect instead of an intended thing, but…yeaahhhh
The fire is shooting at us!
dude looks like someone who would shoot at planes
"Durn flyin' machines! T'ain't natural!"
That's George Carling's boring cousin Dave. I think.
Other countries often send help to places battling forest fires. You’ve got to wonder if that will give them pause when the pilots need to be concerned about being used for target practice.
You’ve got to wonder if that will give them pause when the pilots need to be concerned about being used for target practice.
They could send an escort. Free target practice!
Look out Minnesota!
That and people flying drones into areas like that
Who the hell armed the blaze?!
taking the 'fire' in firearms a little too seriously
The Minnesota DNR also dispatched two single-engine fire suppression aircraft to assist with the fire fight.
Fire fight is an ambiguous term here