Two vegetation fires in remote reaches of Sonoma County on Wednesday and Thursday served notice that summer weather is here and, with it, increasing fire risk.
Cal Fire, the state's firefighting agency, has not officially declared the start of wildland fire season but on Thursday urged caution with campfires and barbecues as warm, dry conditions intensify.
"Recent fire activity, including a 7,000-acre fire just over the border in Nevada, really serves as a reminder that the conditions are ripe for wildfires," Cal Fire Director and Chief Ken Pimlott said in a statement. "Cal Fire crews have already responded to over twice as many fires this year compared to last year at the same time."
In Sonoma County, firefighters responded at 5:50 a.m. Thursday to a one-acre blaze in heavy timber off Palmer Creek Road in the hills west of Healdsburg near Austin Creek State Recreation Area, Cal Fire personnel said.
The suspected cause was a power line that came down nearby, Cal Fire Capt. Tom Knecht said.
Fire crews also were mopping up a 10-acre vegetation fire off Highway 128 near Geyserville, believed to have started Wednesday afternoon when an electrical box on the side of a house shorted and threw sparks onto surrounding brush, Geyserville Fire Chief Paul Pigoni said.
"Of course, this time of year you get those winds," said Healdsburg Fire Chief Steve Adams, whose department contributed engines to the Palmer Creek fire. "Everything's just getting drier and drier by the minute."
A wind-driven fire in Santa Rosa's Fountaingrove area caused alarm Wednesday afternoon when flames threatened several homes after a landscaping worker with a weed cutter struck a rock, igniting the hillside.
Only Lake County has a burn ban in place. Mendocino County is scheduled to declare a burn ban June 4, Cal Fire Communications Officer Anthony Massucco said.
You can reach Staff Writer Mary Callahan at 521-5249 or mary.callahan@pressdemocrat.com.
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