A U.S. Forest Service report strongly suggests that someone working for a proposed silver mine accidentally started a wildfire last May in the Patagonia Mountains.
The Wildcat Fire was started May 6 "on private land by miner grinding on equipment," the report says. The fire burned 398 acres of public forest land and cost about $299,000 to put out, says the May 2011 report, which was made public just in the last week.
A map accompanying the report shows the burned area covering much of the same ground where the Forest Service has authorized American Minerals Inc. to start drilling 15 exploratory holes to look for silver for the proposed Hardshell mine project. The holes can be up to 2,000 feet deep. The mine site is about six miles south of Patagonia and about 50 miles southeast of Tucson.
The service's approval, granted in October, is being challenged by a lawsuit filed by two environmental groups and a Patagonia community watchdog group.
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The community group, the Patagonia Area Resource Alliance, obtained the fire report from the Forest Service through a Freedom of Information Act request. Damage from the fire was one reason to oppose the drilling, the lawsuit alleges.
Coronado National Forest Supervisor Jim Upchurch declined to comment on the Wildcat Fire report, saying the service's investigation hasn't been concluded. "It's probably one of those things where it's inappropriate for me to comment," Upchurch said.
The Forest Service has declined FOIA requests from the Star for its reports on this fire and the Greaterville Fire near the Santa Rita Mountains, which started a few days earlier than the Wildcat Fire.
On the Greaterville Fire, Rosemont Copper President and CEO Rod Pace said last summer that welding work done by a ranch hand working for Rosemont accidentally sparked the fire, which burned about 2,200 acres.
Chris Jones, president of Wildcat Silver, American Minerals' parent company, also declined to comment on the Wildcat Fire report.
Ike Isaacson, Patagonia's mayor and chief of the town's volunteer fire department, said he believes the fire was started by a contractor working for Wildcat Silver because its people were the only ones in the area at the time. His department was the first group of firefighters at the fire scene, he said.
Isaacson's understanding was that the contractor wasn't a miner but someone who was improving roads for future mining or exploration work.
"I think they were doing it in a safe manner. It was just windy that day," said Isaacson, who neither supports nor opposes the silver mine but wants to ensure it doesn't damage the town's water supply.
There were a number of wildfires in the Patagonia-Sonoita area last year that also were accidentally caused, at least three by lawn mowers and one by a person cutting sections of railroad track, he said.
Contact reporter Tony Davis at tdavis@azstarnet.com or 806-7746.
