Terror strikes at the heart of anyone who faces a wall of fast-moving fire. Last week’s Northern California Butte and Valley fires remind everyone of the fear and destruction that follows any raging blaze, regardless of how it starts.

The Department of Homeland Security published an unclassified report titled “Terrorist Interest in Using Fire as a Weapon,” at about the same time as the mysterious Waldo Canyon fire, one of the most destructive fires in Colorado history.

The cause for these fires kindled around Sept. 11 appears to be a bad combination of accidental factors and not arson. But the devastating inferno on this terrorism anniversary raises quiet, yet uncomfortable questions regarding past and future criminal intent – and perhaps international terrorist activity – in wildfires.

While arson was not involved in the Butte and Valley fires, it remains the overall stated goal of radical extremists and organizations like al-Qaida to burn down our house.

The U.S. government actively does more than we know to prevent random acts of terrorism, but a lone-wolf arsonist is a real threat and as tough to stop as a rampaging fire is hard to tamp. Read more.