At the height of fire weather over Fourth of July weekend — two days after Healdsburg canceled its official fireworks show and Cloverdale canceled its fireworks sales — a wildfire called the Pocket Fire broke out in the Mayacamas Mountains just outside Geyserville late Saturday morning, just a few miles northeast of the fresh Point Fire burn scar in the Dry Creek Valley.
According to Cal Fire investigators, a guy from Cloverdale started last weekend’s Pocket Fire with his lawn mower. They’re not saying his name — just that he’s facing some serious punishment.
I didn’t realize charges could even get this bad for accidentally starting a fire. Within 24 hours, state fire officials announced:
“CAL FIRE Law Enforcement arrested an adult male out of Cloverdale in connection to the cause of the 11-acre Pocket Fire Saturday north of Geyserville. The subject was arrested and booked into the Sonoma County Jail in Santa Rosa on one felony charge and three misdemeanor charges. The felony charge was on Penal Code § 452 (c) for unlawfully causing a fire of a structure or forest land and the three misdemeanors were on violations of Health and Safety Code § 13001 as well as California Public Resource Codes § 4431 and § 4421.”
Luckily, firefighters managed to quickly contain and extinguish the Pocket Fire on Saturday, thanks in part to low winds. But Cal Fire’s swift crackdown on the alleged culprit makes it clear that “the agency means business when it talks about maximum enforcement of fire safety laws as wildfire season ramps up,” the Press Democrat reports.
“A conviction could yield a 3-year prison sentence” for this John Deere driver from Cloverdale, according the PD.
More on what happened Saturday, from the Cal Fire press release:
The cause of the Pocket Fire was determined to be the result of using a riding lawn mower in cured annual grasses, four-feet tall. The riding lawn mower used is designed for wet, green lawns, not for dry weeds or grass. The medal blades on riding lawn mowers can spark fires when hitting rocks.
Asides from lawn mowers, other equipment use that can spark a wildfire include weed-eaters, chainsaws, grinders, welders, tractors and trimmers. Defensible space work is critical to help create a perimeter around your home to protect it from a wildfire, but only when done under the right weather conditions. CAL FIRE urges the public to avoid any activities that may ignite a wildfire.
Given the combination of extreme heat, elevated fire conditions and an abundant, cured grass and shrub crop across most of California, CAL FIRE will have maximum enforcement on human-caused wildfires. This is the second arrest made this week by CAL FIRE Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit Law Enforcement Officers in connection to the cause of a wildland fire.
The first arrest was of an adult male on July 3 in connection to the cause of the Adams Fire [in Lake County], which was started by weed-eating in dried grasses.
The Pocket Fire started at 11:19 a.m. Saturday near Pocket Ranch Road and Ridge Oaks Road. CAL FIRE’s initial attack strategy is to keep 95 percent of all fires at 10 acres or less. By the time Air Attack had arrived overhead it had already exceeded that size, but a coordinated air and ground attack was able to quickly contain the fire once resources were at scene.
Along with CAL FIRE, additional responding agencies included the Northern Sonoma County Fire Protection District, the Healdsburg Fire Department and the Cloverdale Fire District.
No structures were damaged or destroyed in the fire and no injuries were reported.
Saturday’s fire burned in the same footprint as the 2017 Pocket Fire, which was a part of the Central LNU Complex. That fire started on Oct. 9, 2017 and consumed 17,357 acres.
You know things have gotten bad when they have to start doubling up on wildfire names.
Oh, FYI: There was also a small kitchen fire the day before at Rio Lindo Academy along the far bank of the Russian River, according to neighbors who were following the Pulse Point emergency-alert app at the time.
Needless to say — stay safe and smart out there, people.
