A car knocked down a power pole Tuesday, sparking a 10-acre grass fire in rolling, sparsely populated hills southeast of Petaluma, authorities said.
Cal Fire air tankers circled over the blaze along Stage Gulch Road between Lakeville Highway and Adobe Road as ground crews gained control at 4:17p.m., officials said.
Crews had to contend with brisk winds but kept that fire and several other blazes around the county from causing much damage Tuesday.
The car crash was reported at 3:30p.m. and that stretch of Stage Gulch Road remained closed at 7:30p.m., CHP Sgt. Jeff Abrams said.
PG&E repair work expected to run into the night or early today, he said.
Windblown fires also erupted Tuesday in Penn-grove and at Doran Beach in Bodega Bay, fire agencies reported.
Near Guerneville, tree branches striking a power line caused a power failure for 43 customers along Armstrong Woods Road north of Highway 116, PG&E spokesman Chris Carter said.
The blackout affected customers on Laughlin Road, Rio Nido Road and Sweetwater Springs Road, he said.
The Stage Gulch Road incident apparently cut power to 23 customers along Lakeville Highway from Browns Lane to Stage Gulch Road, Carter said.
A 25-year-old Vallejo woman ran off a curved section of Stage Gulch Road for an unknown reason, knocking the pole across the road, Abrams said.
The driver complained of pain and was transported to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, he said.
A Cal Fire dispatcher said there were three fires stemming from two separate "starts" and the causes were under investigation.
The fire had covered half an acre when the first Cal Fire crews arrived, the dispatcher said. Two air tankers and a helicopter joined five Cal Fire engines, a bulldozer and two inmate fire crews battling the blaze, with assistance from local fire departments.
The downed power lines were de-energized as PG&E workers undertook repairs, Abrams said.
Grass and brush fires burning in at least three spots blackened 2 acres along Orchard Lane in Penngrove, Rancho Adobe Fire Battalion Chief Andy Taylor said.
Wind was "a big factor" in moving the blaze that ran up to the edge of the east side of Highway 101, he said.
The fire burned close to at least one home in the 500 block of Orchard Lane, where the property manager credited recent cultivation by farmer Jim Groverman with protecting the structure.
Groverman, who operates the corn maze and pumpkin patch on the west side of the freeway, had just tilled the area off Orchard Lane, leaving little to burn.
"Thankfully, he was out here last week," property manager Bill Kendall said. "Very timely."
The fire was under control about 3:20 p.m.
Assisting Rancho Adobe were units from Cal Fire and the Lakeville, San Antonio, Wilmar, Petaluma and Marin County departments, Taylor said.
Two acres of dune grass along the beach were burned in a fire reported at 3:40 p.m. in Bodega Bay, the Cal Fire dispatcher said.
The blaze along Doran Beach Road and Shell Campground Road was contained at 4:45 p.m., she said. No structures were involved and the campground was unaffected.
Cal Fire responded with three engines, a bulldozer and two inmate crews, along with local agencies.
Mop-up work continued at 6 p.m.
You can reach Staff Writer Guy Kovner at 521-5457 or guy.kovner@pressdemocrat.com.
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