Spark from landscaping work ignites 12-acre fire north of Santa Rosa

A 12-acre brush fire sparked near Larkfield Thursday afternoon prompted a major response by engine crews and aircraft due to conditions that have firefighters on alert heading into a hot, dry and windy weekend that is expected to further elevate fire risk.

The blaze reported at 12:22 p.m. on Ursuline Road near Mark West Springs Road, located just north of Cardinal Newman High School, burned in an area seared by the Tubbs fire nearly three years ago, said Cyndi Foreman, the division chief and fire marshal for the Sonoma County Fire Protection District.

The blaze, contained within an hour, initially burned hot and fast and headed uphill toward three large rural homes behind the school, said Chief Mark Heine.

Each home was protected by adequate brush clearance, enabling firefighters to defend the structures, he said.

The initial response included 11 engines from the fire district and Cal Fire, and the incident commander immediately called for three more engines, Heine said.

Cal Fire also dispatched three air tankers and two helicopters, which dropped fire retardant and water on the blaze. A bulldozer and two hand crews worked the blaze from the ground, officials said.

The air attack had to be halted for several minutes when an unauthorized drone flew into the area, Heine said. Authorities sent out urgent pleas across social media for the operator to ground the drone, which was flying in a closed airspace above the fire.

The Santa Rosa Fire Department sent an engine and a water tender to help fight the fire, and also dispatched three engines and a battalion chief to Paradise Ridge Winery and Flintridge Drive, both near the scene.

The latter deployment was “strictly proactive,” intended to monitor the fire and watch for windblown embers, Deputy Fire Chief Scott Westrope said.

The flames were contained before they damaged structures, but Heine expressed dismay over the cause ― a landscaping crew mowing dry grass in the middle of the day. His department has recently dealt with at least five other fires started the same way, he said.

“Our message just isn’t getting out,” the chief said. Cut grass and brush early when humidity is high and the grass is damp, he said.

Later in the day, when the grass is drier, “all it takes is a spark from hitting a rock,” Foreman said.

Heine said fire departments are sending “lots of resources early” to get ahead of brush fires now that the landscape is “exceptionally dry,” with most of the parched state in peak fire season this month and next.

“That has us all on alert,” he said.

A northwest wind of 3 to 5 mph was blowing Thursday afternoon, but the Fire Weather Watch issued by the National Weather Service for the weekend calls for more critical conditions in the North Bay hills from Saturday morning through Monday morning.

North to northeast winds of 35 to 45 mph, with gusts up to 50 mph in the hills, are expected along with temperatures in the 80s and 90s and possibly hitting triple digits.

“We’re watching it very closely,” Heine said.

Late Thursday afternoon, crews were still conducting mop-up operations in the fire area, Foreman said.

The northern end of Ursuline Road would remain closed until crews finished their work, she said.

Meteorologists at PG&E’s Wildfire Safety Operations Center are monitoring windy and hot weather forecast for this weekend with an eye on the need for preemptive power shutdowns to reduce fire risk.

No shut-off alerts have been issued for the Bay Area or the North Coast, but a shut-off watch was declared Thursday for an area including the Northern Sierra Nevada and Trinity County on Saturday through Monday.

A watch alert is typically issued two days prior to a shut-off, followed by a warning alert sent four to 12 hours prior to cutting off power.

You can reach Staff Writer Guy Kovner at 707-521-5457 or guy.kovner@pressdemocrat.com. You can reach Staff Writer Nashelly Chavez at 707-521-5203 or nashelly.chavez@pressdemocrat.com.