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TheAssociatedPress YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK Sparks from a vehicle caused a wildfire at the edge of Yosemite National Park that led to the death of a firefighting air-tanker pi- lot this week, officials said Thursday. Fire investigators found that the blaze broke out Tuesday because of hot metal fragments from a ve- hicle creating sparks, Yo- semite said in a statement. Investigators had not de- termined what type of vehi- cle or what part may have caused the sparks, saying it "could be the result of sev- eral things such as trailer safety chains dragging on the pavement, vehicle brake parts generating a spark or other sources." They didn't immediately say what evidence led them to the cause of the fire that had burned 245 acres and was 10 percent contained. Within a few hours of the blaze breaking out Tues- day, a state fire air tanker crashed into a canyon wall, killing 62-year-old pilot Geoffrey "Craig" Hunt of San Jose. "My dad died a hero," his daughter, Sarah Hunt Laut- erbach, said in a statement released through the Cali- fornia Department of For- estry and Fire Protection. "There was not a day that went by that I didn't talk to my dad. He was my best friend." Calfire's fleet of 22 tank- ers remained grounded while the cause of the crash was investigated. Meanwhile, a series of wildfires along Interstate 80 about 40 miles northeast of Sacramento destroyed five homes and threatened hundreds more as fire crews fought to keep it from a can- yon where dry brush could make it a far bigger prob- lem, officials said. Crews fighting those fires were relying on air tankers from the U.S. Forest Service and helicopters to drop fire retardant on the blaze, Cal- Fire spokesman Daniel Ber- lant said. Berlant said a decision to lift the safety stand-down on the department's own 22 S-2T air tankers will de- pend in part on preliminary results from the investiga- tion into the crash. "Once we determine that there is no clear mechanical issue with the entire fleet, then we will feel more com- fortable having them in the air," Berlant said. The fires were threaten- ing 1,000 structures around the community of Apple- gate in Placer County, with many homes under manda- tory evacuation orders. Crews were focusing on protecting homes and keeping the fires out of the American River canyon, where another fire this year showed explosive growth, Berlant said. It was not immediately clear what caused the fires, but at least two callers re- ported seeing several car tires burning along the eastbound shoulder of the interstate, California High- way Patrol officer Mike Martis said. Dustin Andrews, a con- crete fabricator from Sacra- mento, said he saw flames lapping at the roadside. "We realized it was right up against the highway in four or five different areas," he said. "It happened so fast, but over such a wide area." At Yosemite, the National Transportation Safety Board had two investiga- tors at the site of the crash on the western edge of the park. They were examining parts of the aircraft that they could reach, though the wildfire was limiting ac- cess to other parts of what was described as a nearly quarter-mile-long debris field, NTSB spokesman Keith Holloway said. By week's end, the inves- tigators planned to take the wreckage to a secure facil- ity for more examination. They will then interview witnesses and examine ra- dar data and radio commu- nications. Holloway said a final de- termination on the cause of the crash could take a year or more, but a preliminary report could be available next week. Fire officials said the air tanker crashed into a steep canyon wall north of the Merced River. Hunt's body was recov- ered Wednesday. He had worked with CalFire for 13 years after serving as a U.S. Navy pilot from 1975-1984 and another 20 years in the Navy reserves. Hunt piloted one of two air tankers flying out of Cal- Fire's base in Hollister, 150 miles south of Sacramento. He had master's degrees in business and biochemis- try and taught chemistry at the University of Santa Cruz. "He did math equations for fun. That's what he did in his spare time," recalled CalFire Battalion Chief Joshua Nettles, who is in charge of the Hollister base. Since his death, com- munity members have left flowers and notes of condo- lence at the base's gate. CALIFORNIA OfficialssayvehiclesparkscausedYosemitewildfire RICHPEDRONCELLI—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Flags fly at half-mast at the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Aviation Management facility at McClellan Air Park, in Sacramento on Wednesday to honor air tanker Geoffrey "Craig" Hunt, who died fighting the Dog Rock Fire in Yosemite National Park on Tuesday. By Don Thompson The Associated Press SACRAMENTO The Cali- fornia Legislature should require law enforcement agencies to do a better job using and keeping track of evidence they collect from sexual assault victims that could contain DNA evi- dence, state auditors said Thursday. The audit says lawmak- ers should require agencies to submit the sexual-as- sault evidence kits for anal- ysis every time a suspect's identity is unknown. State Auditor Elaine Howle said the Legislature also should require crime labs to fin- ish analyzing the evidence within two years of the as- sault. The kits can contain clothing, hair samples, swabs and other evidence. However, there currently are no federal or state laws or regulations that require law enforcement agencies to track or report informa- tion about the number of kits that go untested. Auditors examined the practices of three sample agencies: the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department and the police departments in Oakland and San Diego. They found the three agencies collected a com- bined 1,900 kits from 2011 through 2013, but only about 850 — less than half — were analyzed by crime labs. "(U)nanalyzed kits could be a missed opportunity to benefit other investigations through a DNA match," the auditors said, though they found no specific cases that went unsolved because kits weren't tested. Jill Spriggs, director of Sacramento County's lab, said the county this year began testing 100 percent of rape kits and tested kits that had gone unanalyzed in previous years. Gov. Jerry Brown re- cently signed into law a bill, AB1517, by Assembly- woman Nancy Skinner, D- Berkeley, requiring law en- forcement agencies to sub- mit most rape kits to crime labs within 20 days, and labs to process the DNA ev- idence and submit it to the national Combined DNA In- dex System within 120 days. Comparing the DNA pro- files to the national data- base can link crimes to pre- viously identified assailants whose DNA is already in the system. 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