Downed power lines caused a small grass fire Sunday night in the Fargher Lake area near Amboy.
Clark County Fire District 10 Chief Gordon Brooks was the first person to respond to the fire, reported along Northeast Fargher Lake Highway near Northeast 156th Avenue just after 7 p.m.
“I saw a column of smoke from about a mile away,” he said.
When he arrived, he found that a downed tree had taken out a power line, igniting a small fire at the base of the pole, Brooks said. He immediately called for a crew from Clark Public Utilities to respond and turn off the power.
“Twelve-thousand volts of electricity will ruin anybody’s day,” he said. “There’s absolutely nothing we can do until the power’s turned off.”
The fire started at about 10 feet in diameter, Brooks said, but while fire crews waited about 20 minutes for power workers to arrive, the fire scorched brush, grass, leaves and timber, growing to about 50 feet in diameter.
“It was starting to pick up in fire behavior,” Brooks said.
Crews from the Department of Natural Resources arrived in two engines, along with an inmate crew from Larch Corrections Center. They did most of the suppression, Brooks said, while local fire crews protected nearby residences.
“We had five houses threatened on the top of the hill above the fire,” he said. “It was definitely a serious concern to us.”
Fargher Lake Highway was closed for about four hours while crews worked to suppress the flames and while utility workers fixed the lines and cut down another tree.
“As dry as everything is, it doesn’t take much to ignite a fire,” Brooks said. “This time of year, we want to make sure that we provide an overwhelming response so we can get them while they’re small and not end up losing houses.”
