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by Jeff Young (Author)
Sixty years of living in the same mountain community gave a long time resident of Shaver Lake, California, different information as to the cause and failure to extinguish promptly the 2020 Creek Fire. This is the story of his nearly six year investigation of the fire, which was stated by an official U.S. Forest Service investigation as possibly caused by lightning, when no evidence suggested this cause. His wealth of local knowledge and decades of personal connections to the mountain community produced evidence that lead to the discovery of the hidden remains of an eradicated marijuana grow and a hidden campsite. Firefighters, law enforcement, and residents came forward slowly and reluctantly over the course of his investigation with firsthand knowledge implicating public servants in a coverup. Numerous FOIAs, public record searches, and questions ask of officials involved were telling in what they did not show, things that obviously happened and that should have been documented, but were not. They could hide the records but they could not keep their own from talking, even with non-disclosure agreements.
The citizen-journalist's offers to turn over evidence of the grow, of the hidden campsite, of names of the people possible involved were ignored. He attempted to point out falsehoods in the report that could be shown as such by radio recordings and written documents. He contacted the FBI, the U.S. Forest Service clear to Washington, state and local district attorneys, the DOJ, to no avail. Local media branded him a conspiracy theorist at law enforcement's request, and would not talk to him, but the local community stood behind him with support and an intermittent trickle of information.
Ultimately a book was the only recourse to expose the truth that was so important to cover up that people quit their jobs and scrubbed their internet footprints to hide from it. The reason for the needless destruction of 652 homes and 380,000 acres of forest could not be discovered, for like with the Southern California Fires and Lahaina, it would expose the total ineptitude and corruptness of the bureaucrats whose job it is to serve and protect. Misinformation and falsehoods put into the historical record is lying - lies that can cost lives in the future. The truth about the Southern California fires and Lahaina is being exposed, and now with For the Sake of History, may the 2020 Creek Fire truth come to light as well.
