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TheAssociatedPress GROVELAND A Califor- nia man was charged Thursday with start- ing the state's third-larg- est wildfire, a 2013 blaze that charred hundreds of square miles of land in Yo- semite National Park and the Stanislaus National Forest. A grand jury returned a four-count indictment against Keith Matthew Emerald, 32, alleging he started a fire Aug. 17, 2013, and it spread beyond his control and turned into the massive Rim Fire. Federal prosecutors said temporary fire restrictions in place at the time prohibited fires. Emerald, from the town of Columbia in the Sierra Nevada foothills, is also charged with lying to a federal agent by saying he did not set the fire. A call to his attorney, fed- eral public defender Janet Bateman, was not imme- diately returned. Authorities previously said the fire was started by an illegal fire set by a hunter but withheld the hunter's name pending further investigation. The fire raged for two months across 400 square miles of land. It ranks as California's third-largest wildfire and the largest in the Sierra Nevada's re- corded history. The costs of fighting it totaled more than $125 million. "The Rim Fire was one of the largest in Califor- nia history and caused tremendous economic and environmental harm," U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wag- ner said in a written state- ment. "While those harms cannot be undone, today we have brought criminal charges relating to the cause of the fire." The charges were the re- sult of an investigation by the U.S. Forest Service and the Tuolumne County dis- trict attorney's office, Wag- ner said. CRIME Manchargedwith starting massive blaze The Associated Press RENO, NEV. Volunteers joined Nevada wildlife of- ficials this week in a res- cue mission to save thou- sands of stranded trout and other fish from irri- gation ditches that have been cut off from Truckee River water supplies due to drought in the Reno area. Two dozen wader-clad rescuers splashed through the knee-deep ditches that soon will be going dry, net- ting an estimated 6,000 fish over two days. Most were returned Wednesday to the Truckee River near Verdi, just west of Reno, where a rare stretch of wet Au- gust weather helped boost flows the past few days with more than an inch of precipitation. Wildlife officials say the moisture helped, but it doesn't put much of a dent in the lingering drought, now in its third year. "We're trying to make sure the fish in there get a secondchance,"NevadaDe- partmentofWildlifespokes- man Chris Healy said. "Nobody likes to see a natural resource go to waste. We would have seen a lot of fish go to waste," he told the Reno Gazette- Journal. The Truckee Mead- ows Water Authority shut off flows last week to the ditches that deliver river water to power generation and hydroelectric plants the authority operates. "With the drought con- ditions, the water is going to disappear from these ca- nals," said Kim Toulouse, volunteer program man- ager for the state wildlife agency. "All the fish that are in the canals are basi- cally stranded." The fish salvage was just one action state officials have been forced to pursue due to the unusually dry conditions. NDOW began plating trout raised in its Mason Valley hatchery into the river and the area's ur- ban ponds in February, the earliest time in 20 years. For the second year in a row, the state in mid- May also lifted limits on fish allowed to be caught at Wildhorse and Willow Creek reservoirs in Elko County. Its goal was to re- move as many fish as pos- sible before lowering water and rising temperatures combined to produce con- ditions where the fish can- not survive. DROUGHT Thousands of stranded fish rescued in Nevada By Fenit Nirappil The Associated Press SACRAMENTO California is on the verge of becom- ing the latest state to re- quire shut-off functions in smartphones as a way to de- ter thefts. SB962 by Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, is supported by law en- forcement and consumer groups as a response to a crime problem that has exploded nationwide. It passed the state Assem- bly on a 51-18 vote Thurs- day and will return to the Senate for a final vote on amendments. Under the bill, smart- phones must be sold with technology, a "kill switch," that deactivates them if sto- len. It does not apply to tab- lets or laptops. "None of us should have our lives at risk because we walk down the streets with this device each and every one of us use all day long," said Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, holding up her iPhone on the Assembly floor. The San Francisco dis- trict attorney's office says more than half of all rob- beries in the city last year included the theft of a smartphone. Supporters of the bill also cite a Con- sumer Reports study that estimated 3.1 million mo- bile devices were stolen na- tionally in 2013, double a year earlier. A report by state at- torneys general, prosecu- tors, police and other of- ficials, released in June, showed how deactivation devices are working to re- duce smartphone thefts. Af- ter Apple added an optional "kill switch" feature to its iPhones last September, robberies of Apple products in New York City dropped 19 percent while grand lar- cenies dropped 29 percent in the first five months of 2014 compared with a year earlier. In May, Minnesota be- came the first state to man- date the shut-off technology on all smartphones tablets sold in the state, effective next July. Leno's bill failed an ini- tial vote in April after fierce opposition from wireless companies and manufac- turers warning against varying state regulations for products sold interna- tionally. Manufacturers in- cluding Apple, Samsung and Blackberry dropped their opposition after law- makers agreed to amend- ments. SB962, if signed by the governor, would apply to smartphones manufactured and sold after July 2015. Some Republican law- makers said the legisla- tion overreached, pointing to voluntary steps taken by cellphone companies to adopt the technology and take other measures to dis- courage robberies. "This is another example of California thinking that it knows better than our technology innovators and the customers they serve," said Assemblyman Jim Pat- terson, R-Fresno. CTIA-The Wireless Asso- ciation, a trade group, re- mains opposed, saying de- activation rules should not vary by state. SACRAMENTO Sm art ph on es m us t in cl ud e 'kill switch' under bill By Jeff Barnard The Associated Press GRANTS PASS, ORE. Fire- fighters pouring water into drought-parched trees and brush saved a cluster of homes in Oregon's Colum- bia Gorge from a wind- driven wildfire. The Rowena Fire has burned about 4 square miles of trees and brush about 6 miles west of The Dalles, in north Oregon. Residents of 275 homes have been told to evacuate and dozens more were warned to be ready to go on short notice. Fire spokeswoman Tina O'Donnell said crews were clearing vegetation Thurs- day to create buffer zones around the homes. No homes were lost overnight. Donna Bender owns a vacation home in Rowena. She says she saw one un- burnt house surrounded by a charred landscape along old Highway 30 before be- ing told to evacuate. She took some real estate pa- pers and photos from the walls and had to tell some renters they could not move in. "It's a scary thing," she said. "It sure is smoking up the area." O'Donnell said people in The Dalles gathered in gas stations and on streets on the western side of town Wednesday night and watched the flames creep down a hillside several miles away. She said wind gusts of up to 30 mph were expected Thursday afternoon in the area that draws windsurf- ers from around the world. The fire started Tuesday evening in brush, and when it made a run along the river Wednesday evening, residents of 275 homes in Rowena were told to evac- uate, fire spokesman Dave Wells said. By Thursday morning it was just over 4.1 square miles and still moving through steep terrain that is home to rattlesnakes, ticks and poison oak. Residents of nearly 90 homes in an outlying sub- division of The Dalles, a city of about 14,000, were told to be ready to leave if nec- essary, Wells said. "We've got a challeng- ing fire on our hands," fire spokesman Justin de Ruyter said. In northern Idaho, five structures have been de- stroyed and 160 threatened by a wildfire burning on 64 square miles of mostly grass on the east side of the Snake River across from Or- egon and Washington state. Big Cougar Fire spokes- man Tom Rhodes said it's unclear if the destroyed structures are homes or outbuildings in the remote area accessible only by boat. Residents have been told to evacuate. In Washington state, Gov. Jay Inslee on Thurs- day asked President Barack Obama to declare parts of eastern Washington a ma- jor disaster area because of wildfires that have de- stroyed more than 300 homes this year. A declaration would pro- vide federal assistance to help families, business own- ers and local governments recover from the wildfires. Inslee sent a letter to the Federal Emergency Man- agement Agency, asking for federal aid for Chelan and Okanogan counties and the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation. That covers the area where fires destroyed 323 homes this summer, including the Carlton Complex, the larg- est wildfire in state history. WEST Firefighters save homes from Oregon wildfires THEOREGONIAN,STUARTTOMLINSON—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Smoke rises from the Rowena fire in Oregon amid high winds and dry conditions Wednesday. 100 Jackson Street, Red Bluff (530) 529-1220 NEW Membership Specials CallorComeIn for details Deli-TastyBurgers-Wraps NewTo-GoSection Thursday, Friday & Saturday Lunch & Dinner Buffet Happy Hour with Cocktails, Food & Entertainment Saigon Bistro 723 Walnut St. Red Bluff 528-9670 Reynolds Ranch & Farm Supply presents Comecelebrateour 25th Anniversary with us! Fun! Food! Raffles! Prizes! 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