Lawnmowers, Not Cigarettes, Most Common Cause Of Grass Fires
FOLSOM (CBS13) - Cal Fire says it has already had twice as many fire calls this year then last year because of the dry winter and hot spring.
Most of the fires are man-made and lawnmowers are the most common culprits.
"It just takes one simple spark from that blade hitting a rock and a fire can quickly ignite," Cal Fire spokesman Daniel Berlant said Monday.
Berlant says it's actually very rare for lit cigarettes to cause grass fires.
"It's really about 1 to 2 percent of our fires are cigarettes," he said. "You've got to have really low humidity, and cigarettes today are built to self-extinguish. We just don't see many cigarette fires."
The biggest fire hazard comes from lawnmowers and weed eaters being used on dry, brown grass.
Other fire dangers are obvious, like barbecues being left on or unattended, burning leaf piles and fireworks.
But a mostly dry winter combined with a sizzling spring means that fire danger can be unexpected.
"I've only heard it one time. We had a fire up in the Auburn area - a horseshoe, a metal horseshoe hitting a rock caused a fire," Berlant said.
