State fire investigators have determined that the River Fire, which destroyed more than 140 homes last year in the Northern California foothills, was not set maliciously or by way of criminal activity.
Cal Fire in September announced that the wildfire, which ignited the afternoon of Aug. 4, was human-caused and that it started in an overnight camping area at the Bear River Campground.
The state fire agency in a Monday update specified that the fire "started in the brush" along the edge of Bear River, within the site's overnight camping area but not in a designated campsite.
