From small animals becoming conductors of electricity to gender reveal parties to sparks from a lawnmower and more, here are some of the most surprising ways wildfires have been started.
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00:00We want to talk about some surprising ways wildfires can start.
00:04Lawnmowers can create fires by throwing a spar from the exhaust.
00:07A person using a lawnmower in Mariposa County in Arizona caused a French fire on July 4th.
00:13Sometimes small birds and mammals and electrical equipment can be a dangerous mix.
00:17Rodents can often chew on electrical cords and cause fires of all types.
00:22Now if an animal, maybe a bird with wings, spreads or a squirrel moving from one location to another
00:27completes a connection between two conductors, they can be electrocuted.
00:30And as gruesome as it may be, their body can catch fire, falling to the ground and igniting a brush fire.
00:36A smoke bomb sparked the destructive El Dorado fire, which destroyed five homes and killed one firefighter in 2020.
00:44This is actually a gender reveal party that led to this fire.
00:47Fireworks and smoke bombs can be extremely risky in dry grass.
00:50So the couple responsible for the El Dorado fire pled guilty to the very costly crime.
00:55It involved $1.8 million in restitution plus jail time.
00:58And again, one life was lost.
01:00Spontaneous combustion of grass or manure piles is responsible for many fires every year.
01:05Chemical reactions among decomposing biological material builds heat.
01:09Hay is a big insulator so the heat can build up.
01:11When the internal temperature climbs above 130 degrees, flammable gas is produced that can ignite.
01:17A brush fire in 2006 led to evacuations in San Diego County, all from a compost pile.
01:23And finally, sometimes near the road or railways, we get into trouble.
01:27Tow chains from a trailer can cause a fire, dragging down the road and creating sparks along the road into the dry brush.
01:33And sometimes a passing train can throw sparks that also trigger a wildfire.
01:37So those are five somewhat less obvious, outside-the-box ways that fires can start, especially in the dry ground.
01:45So be especially careful during wildfire season.