Smaller Lake County wildfires likely caused by equipment

The two most recent wildfires in Lake County appear to have been ignited by equipment, Cal Fire has reported.

Officials did not specify what kind of equipment sparked the Grade and Peterson fires because the findings are preliminary and the fire investigations are continuing.

“I can’t specify any more than that,” Cal Fire spokeswoman Emily Smith said.

The findings support the department’s contention that most wildfires are caused by people.

All kinds of equipment, from mowers and trimmers with metal blades, to anything with a hot motor, including cars, can spark fires under dry conditions, fire officials said.

Even parking a car in dry grass could be enough to start a fire under the current, tinder dry summer conditions that have been exacerbated by several years of drought.

Fire officials ask that area residents be careful. While they want wildland residents to maintain cleared areas around their homes, the heat of summer is not the time to clear brush or mow dry grass, officials said.

All yard maintenance that needs to be done should be carried out during cool morning hours and when there’s no wind that could fan potential flames. Weed trimmers with string, not metal blades, should be used because they’re less likely to spark when hitting a rock or other hard items, which should be cleared from fields before trimming.

The Grade fire burned 22 acres, a residence and numerous vehicles early this week in southern Lake County. It is fully contained. The Peterson fire near Kelseyville burned 215 and was fully contained Thursday.

The much larger Rocky fire, which blackened nearly 70,000 acres in three counties, destroyed 43 homes and put thousands of residents under evacuation orders and alerts, was started by a faulty water heater inside an outbuilding in the Morgan Valley Road area southeast of Lower Lake July 29.

A cause has not been revealed for the 25,118-acre Jerusalem fire, which broke out Aug. 9 south of the Rocky fire.

You can reach Staff Writer Glenda Anderson at 462-6473 or glenda.anderson@pressdemocrat.com.?On Twitter @MendoReporter.