Farm animals, buildings saved after fire sparked by mower west of Petaluma

By Kathleen Coates | The Push Democrat (Santa Rosa)

With the assistance of a neighbor with an previous hearth truck, a man who accidentally commenced a fireplace was capable to save numerous sheep, goats, chickens and geese from burning before fireplace companies arrived to place out the blaze west of Petaluma on Saturday.

Rancho Adobe Hearth Security District Battalion Chief Herb Wandel reported “a gentleman with good intentions but negative timing” was utilizing mowing products to cut down 8-foot-tall thistle vegetation throughout a time of sizzling climate and low humidity.

“It seems to be like he might have strike a dust clod or a rock and began a fire. When he understood he had began a fire behind him, they identified as 911,” Wandel said.

Some of the animals ended up in a pen and others were being in a field, “pinned to the corners” of the fence, he mentioned.

“It was a quite substantial hearth and entailed a whole lot of overhaul, digging up warm places and applying additional water to get it down to bare dust,” Wandel said.

The call went out at 1:21 p.m. The hearth finished up burning 3 1/2 acres in the 2000 block of Skillman Lane in the vicinity of Thompson Lane. Even though homes and barns on nearby houses ended up threatened for a shorter time, the hearth was extinguished promptly soon after five hearth organizations responded, Wandel reported. Only a little barn, a tractor and a horse trailer had been broken, he claimed.

The Countrywide Weather Provider has rated fire danger in Sonoma County as severe and fireplace agencies have “upstaffed” for the very long Labor Day weekend, Wandel said.

“Because we had all the units available, we have been in a position to get there immediately. Various stations responded,” he stated.