The Maple Fire was a wildfire on Jefferson Ridge in the

Olympic Mountains The Olympic Mountains are a mountain range on the Olympic Peninsula of the Pacific Northwest of the United States. The mountains, part of the Pacific Coast Ranges, are not especially high – Mount Olympus is the highest at ; however, the east ...

, approximately 23 miles north of

Shelton, Washington Shelton is a city in, and the county seat of, Mason County, Washington, United States. Shelton is the westernmost city on Puget Sound. The population was 10,371 at the 2020 census. Shelton has a council–manager form of government and was th ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. The fire was caused by illegal logging activities, and the resulting criminal trial was the first time that tree DNA has ever been used in a federal trial in the United States.

Fire

The Maple Fire was started by a crew of timber poachers who were attempting to steal Big-Leaf Maple trees from the

Olympic National Park Olympic National Park is a United States national park located in the State of Washington, on the Olympic Peninsula. The park has four regions: the Pacific coastline, alpine areas, the west-side temperate rainforest, and the forests of the drier ...

. The crew discovered a potential target tree on August 3, but were unable to harvest it due to a wasp nest at the base of the tree. After failing to exterminate the nest with insecticides, the crew deliberately set fire to the nest. The fire grew out of control, and the logging crew fled. The fire was reported the following day, August 4. It was not considered contained until October 10, and continued to smolder until seasonal rains finally extinguished it in November. The Maple Fire ultimately burned of wildland. A command center was initially established at nearby

Brinnon, Washington Brinnon is a census-designated place (CDP) in Jefferson County, Washington, United States. The population was 797 at the 2010 census. The community is named for Ewell P. Brinnon, who in 1860 took a donation land claim at the mouth of the Duckab ...

, but quickly grew too large, and was relocated to

. At one point, as many as 258 personnel were involved in firefighting efforts. Some

unmanned aerial vehicle An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controlle ...

s, and two Washington Air National Guard helicopters were also dispatched to combat the blaze. The firefighting efforts cost $4.5 million.

Criminal proceedings

One member of the illegal logging crew pleaded guilty to theft of public property and setting timber afire in December 2019. He was sentenced to 30 months in prison in September 2020. After a 6 day jury trial in July 2021, another member of the crew was convicted of conspiracy, theft of public property, depredation of public property, trafficking in unlawfully harvested timber, and attempting to traffic in unlawfully harvested timber. He was sentenced to 20 months in prison in November 2021. Key evidence in the jury trial was DNA samples from wood the crew had sold to nearby mills. These samples were compared with samples in a database of Big Leaf Maple DNA. Analysis showed a very high likelihood that the wood had been poached. This was the first time that tree DNA had ever been used in a federal trial.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maple Fire, 2018 2018 Washington (state) wildfires Jefferson County, Washington August 2018 events in the United States September 2018 events in the United States October 2018 events in the United States