Before a wildfire grew into an out-of-control blaze, the Forest Service decided to let it burn
Noah Berger/AP
By Sarah Moon and Stella Chan, CNN
A massive wildfire raging out of control in the rugged mountains straddling the California-Nevada border, tearing through tens of thousands of acres was initially determined by US Forest Service officials to not be a threat and allowed to burn.
The lightning-sparked Tamarack Fire, first discovered on July 4 in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, was initially confined to a single tree burning on a ridgetop “with sparse fuels and natural barriers to contain it,” according to the Forest Service, which posted a video of the small smoldering fire in a Facebook post.