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Bird drops fish onto electrical substation starts 500-acre Benton County fire
By Rylee Fitzgerald,
3 days ago
BENTON COUNTY, Wash. — Benton County Fire District #6 battled a fire along Highway 14, Tuesday morning. The Canoe Ridge Road fire, now put out, threatened vineyards and a winery. It started west of Paterson, and brought crews of all kinds to the scene, including fire crews from all around the state, railway, electric and more.
“Roughly around about 10 o'clock, we were dispatched out to this fire. Initially, it was probably about 100 acres, working upslope. We've had multiple, multiple mutual aid resources come in to assist us with the fire. Acreage right now is a total guess, 500-ish,” said Captain Scott Hawley with Benton County Fire District #6.
Captain Hawley with Benton County Fire District #6 said it wouldn’t be the first animal-caused electrical fire in the district. Rylee Fitzgerald reports. Read the whole story here: https://www.applevalleynewsnow.com/news/bird-drops-fish-onto-electrical-substation-starts-500-acre-benton-county-fire/article_ea7e4850-4f68-11ef-a25d-d7e791891472.html
He said the area is rocky, and on the hillside, so access was an issue for this area. The Canoe Ridge Vineyard was saved after air resources came in to help fire crews.
“We did get some air resources in which it seems to have gotten things under control, which are immense help with us,” said Cpt. Hawley.
Those winery and vineyard crews were helping out on their own front, protecting their crops as fire raged close.
“Their main job right now is to protect their vineyard. So, they were taking—there's little roads around it, little access roads, and they were just cleaning that up and then putting some water around it to help not let it get burnt,” Cpt. Hawley explained.
After talking with fire crews once the fire was put out, they said the 500-acre fire is believed to have started when a bird dropped a fish into the electrical substation.
“As weird as it sounds, sometimes we get squirrels, they get up on power lines. Sometimes it's birds, land on the wrong things,” said Cpt. Hawley.
He included that it wouldn’t be the first animal-caused electrical fire in the district.
No evacuations were issued and no injuries were reported.
PASCO, Wash. — The Pasco Public Facilities District board approved the validation report for the new Pasco Aquatics Facility at a recent meeting. The board went over a more-than-130-page report on the design, value delivery, project schedule and more. The validation process has lasted for around seven months.
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