Vulture survives after starting Berkeley grass fire
Firefighters found the partially burned bird beneath the power lines when they got to the scene.
A fire earlier this week in the Berkeley Hills was caused by a vulture that flew into the power lines, authorities report.
The fire burned 1.3 acres of land in Berkeley's Tilden Regional Park on Tuesday afternoon.
Scroll down for an update to the story.
But, thanks to alert hikers who spotted the blaze and called it in, firefighters were able to get to the scene quickly and extinguish the fire before it spread, authorities said.
Emilie Raguso
Daniel Sargent, one of the hikers who reported the fire, described what happened to The Scanner earlier this week.
"We heard a loud, startling explosion around 1:30 PM," he said. "We noticed smoke and fire around the base of an electricity pylon a few minutes later and called 911."
Another local resident, John Kirkham, was walking in the area Tuesday around 3 p.m. and came across firefighters who were wrapping up their work.
The firefighters told Kirkham a vulture had flown into the power lines and gotten shocked. When it fell to the ground, it started the fire.
The firefighters also showed Kirkham a photo of the vulture, which had survived.
The East Bay Regional Parks Fire Department, the Berkeley Fire Department and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) all responded to the scene.
In the end, Cal Fire took over the operation.
On Friday afternoon, Cal Fire Santa Clara Unit Chief Baraka Carter confirmed to The Scanner that a vulture was responsible for the fire.
He said East Bay Parks had taken the bird to a wildlife sanctuary in Concord but said further information about its condition was not immediately available.
Carter said firefighters had found the partially burned bird beneath the power lines when they got to the fire scene, off Wildcat Canyon Road.
"All indicators pointed to that being the source of ignition," Carter said.
Cal Fire continued to check the fire site for two days after containment, as per its typical policy, and declared it under control Thursday.
Chief Carter said that, while it's not unusual for birds to hit the power lines and cause fires, it is much less common for them to survive.
When a bird lands on one power line, there generally isn't a problem, he added.
"The moment they make contact with both lines, they become grounded," Carter said. "They become the source."
When that happens, it trips the power. A fuse will then reset and the power will start to flow again.
"If it trips again, they will send a technician out," Carter said.
PG&E confirmed Thursday that "A bird did make contact with our electrical equipment on Tuesday. The bird did survive and is being treated at a wildlife hospital," a spokeswoman said.
"We have an Avian Protection Plan to protect raptors and prevent incidents like this one from occurring," she added.
East Bay Parks did not respond to media inquiries this week.
Scanner efforts to locate the vulture at local wildlife sanctuaries have been unsuccessful.
Update, Sept. 3: The East Bay Regional Park District has let us know that the vulture, which initially survived, did not make it in the end.
