California’s Largest Wildfire Was Caused By A Hammer, Cal Fire Says
LAPPL News Watch
June 7, 2019
The largest wildfire in California history was an accident started by a claw hammer.
Cal Fire said Thursday that the Ranch Fire last July began when a property owner in Potter Valley, in Mendocino County, was installing a shade barrier. After disturbing an underground nest of yellow jackets, the man hammered a two-foot-long concrete stake into the ground to plug the hole, according to Cal Fire’s investigative report.
The hammering created a spark that lit up a patch of tall grass. Winds were strong, conditions were dry and the fire grew out of control. The property owner was unable to douse the flames.
The fire, which started July 27, eventually burned a total of 410,203 acres across Mendocino, Colusa, Glenn and Lake counties, making it the largest fire in state history in terms of acreage.
The Ranch Fire burned 280 homes and other buildings and left a firefighter from Utah dead
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WAS THIS STUPID OR BAD LUCK ?
by Bob Walsh
In late July of last year the Ranch Fire broke out, eventually burning over 400,000 acres in Mendocino, Glenn, Lake and Colusa counties, making it the largest wild fire in CA history. We now know how it started.
A ranch owner, working in waist high dry grass, was driving a cement stake into a wasp nest in an effort to plug it, using a metal hammer. A spark ignited the grass. It spread. Fast. He did try to put it out but it quickly spread not only thru the grass but to the shade cloth of the structure he was trying to put up. He even tried running over it with his four-wheeler but that didn't work and the poly hose he used to try to put the fire out kinked and would not supply enough water to do the job.
The fire got away from him. The rest is history. The Ranch Fire actually started as at least three separate fires that grew together and the cause of origin of all of them is not yet known. One fire fighter died while fighting the fire..
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