Fried bird starts 2nd animal-caused fire in week
Fried bird starts 2nd animal-caused fire in week
17 August 2010
published by www.kpic.com
USA — A home was threatened Monday evening, after a bird got zapped landing on a transformer and sparked a 1/2 acre grass fire in the Lookingglass area near Roseburg. This was the second animal caused fire in less than a week in Douglas County.
The Douglas Forest Protective Association (DFPA), reports that residents along Cinbar Drive said they heard a loud popping sound around 6 p.m., and then lost power.
Firefighters from the Lookingglass Rural Fire Department and a DFPA crew responded, along with a helicopter that had been headed for Azalea, responding to a car fire. The Azalea Rural Fire Department was able
to control the car fire, so the helicopter was rerouted to the Cinbar Fire.
The fire threatened one home, but the DFPA reports that quick action by firefighter and the helicopter were successful in saving the house.
DFPA spokesman Tom Fields said in a release that the homeowner was thinking ahead and protected the house from fire. “The fire was wind driven in the direction of the home,” said Fields, “but the fact that they had kept their grass short, landscaped with fire in mind and didn’t have trees overhanging the home made this house very survivable on it’s own.”
Fire officials found the fried bird at the base of a power pole where they think the fire started underneath the transformer.
On Friday, Aug. 13, a squirrel touched a transformer in the Metz Hill area, starting a one acre fire there.
