"The reality is that we could have an army out there and not be able to cover all of that ground," Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown said, saying he based his claim on the size of a marijuana farm and equipment found where the fire began.
His statement confirmed claims made over the weekend by officials at Los Padres National Forest.
Some 30,000 marijuana plants, some as high as 1.83m, were found in a remote forest area officials say was likely being used as an illegal pot garden by a Mexico-based drug operation.
A special team of US Forest Service, a counternarcotics police unit and investigators from the Santa Barbara County Fire Department uncovered stacks of propane tanks, irrigation tubing, empty fertiliser canisters, a cooking stove and a semi-automatic rifle, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The major Los Padres fire has been burning since August 8, destroying more than 35,875 hectares but is now 75 per cent under control, Calfire said.
Local counternarcotics units had travelled through the same area several months ago and were surprised by the new find.
So far this year, US Forest Service and Santa Barbara County counternarcotics agents have uprooted a record 225,058 marijuana plants with an estimated street value of $817 million.
In July, agents pulled 113,000 plants at a camp not far from the site where the fire broke out.
Santa Barbara is about 350km from the US border with Mexico between San Diego and Tijuana, one of the most patrolled points along the nearly 3,000km long
divide between the two North American countries.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,25951946-401,00.html


