The goal was $16,000.
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A plane drops fire retardant on a wildfire in Carmel Valley, Calif., Thursday, July 28, 2016.
Two people who were found Monday inside the lines of the Soberanes fire in Monterey County were tending to a marijuana crop, according to the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office.
UPDATED 8:15 a.m.
Cal Fire officials Thursday morning said the Soberanes Fire in Monterey County has now scarred 27,326 acres, and is still considered only ten percent contained.
About 2,000 homes remain threatened.
The person, whose name hasn’t been released, was operating the large tractor when it overturned sometime during the night.
There was no evidence to suggest the fire was sparked by marijuana cultivation, Cal Fire spokesman Robert Fish said.
Another privately owned bulldozer that rolled over Tuesday afternoon was later placed upright and the operator wasn’t injured, according to Garver. The blaze has destroyed 34 homes and 10 outbuildings, Cal Fire officials said.
The Imperial County Firefighter Task Force (ICFTF) is there battling the raging flames that have forced thousands to evacuate their homes.
Crews are focusing on battling the southern area of the fire in the Palo Colorado community and Rancho San Carlos west of White Rock, according to Garver.
Four people who escaped the Big Sur fire early in the week acknowledged growing marijuana in the area for the last three months, Monterey County sheriff’s Sgt. Kathy Palazzolo said.
There were concerns that Wednesday’s lower humidity, build-up in high pressure and low marine layer would impact fire activity and firefighters, Garver said.
There are 4,245 firefighters on the ground working to extinguish the fire, but authorities don’t expect to reach full containment until August 31, according to Cal Fire.
The fire is just 10 percent contained.
Efforts by 4,200 firefighters to hack buffer lines through dense vegetation around the perimeter of the blaze have been complicated by worsening weather conditions – super-low humidity and gradually rising temperatures – officials said.
Authorities have not determined a cause for either fire.
To the south, firefighters made progress containing a huge blaze in mountains outside Los Angeles, allowing authorities to let most of 20,000 people evacuated over the weekend return home. At some point, he suffered fatal injuries in a remote area on the southeast end of the fire in Garrapata State Park in Carmel.
A scenic stretch of California’s Highway 1 is open, but state parks near Big Sur remain closed as crews try to beat back a destructive wildfire that threatens to crest a ridge and make a run toward coastal campgrounds, lodges and redwoods.
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“There’s hundreds of strike teams up there in the same fires”, Rivera said.
