Electrocuted bird falls to the ground — and starts brush fire in Colorado, officials say
One of the multiple wildfires burning across Colorado’s Front Range was started by a bird, officials say.
It “was electrocuted, caught on fire, and fell to the ground, where it ignited the grass and brush below,” WestMetroFire said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“Wow. What are the odds of that?” someone asked in the comments.
“Well, it happens,” the department said. “Not all the time, but, it happens.”
The department shared a New York Times story from 2022 explaining the phenomenon — and how a similar incident in 2017, when “a hawk carrying a snake lit a 40-acre blaze in Montana” was one of at least 44 wildfires started by electrocuted birds from 2014 through 2018, the outlet reported.
The Wednesday, July 31, brush fire in Colorado started near a restaurant in Morrison — where Red Rocks Park & Amphitheater is located — but luckily only “burned about three acres in mostly grass and oak brush, away from structures” before firefighters got it under control, the agency said.
It took about an hour to get the small fire contained, officials said.
“We are mopping up,” the agency said.
It happened as four other wildfires burned along the Front Range of the state’s Rocky Mountains: “the Alexander Mountain, Quarry, Stone Canyon and Lake Shore fires,” KRON4 reported.
“Fire crews have said hot and dry conditions have posed a challenge, along with resources stretched thin by other fires across the Western U.S.,” the station reported.
This story was originally published August 2, 2024 at 1:42 PM with the headline "Electrocuted bird falls to the ground — and starts brush fire in Colorado, officials say."
