Burning hawk starts vineyard fire

A small fire at the edge of a Windsor-area vineyard Wednesday afternoon was ignited by a hawk that perched on a power pole or related equipment and fell flaming to the ground, fire officials said Thursday.

The 4:54 p.m. fire on rural Pleasant Avenue burned up to two acres at the edge of the vineyard near Chalk Hill Road, Windsor Fire Capt. Dean Crothers said.

Some of the grapes were likely destroyed by excessive heat from the flames, he said.

But calm winds and good weather conditions helped keep the fire small, along with the help of a Cal Fire helicopter that dropped several enormous buckets of water on the fire, Crothers said.