Yesterday two geese floating on the Spicket River near Methuen, Mass., took off, and laboring to get airborne from the water flew into a 28,000-volt power line that crossed the river. An eyewitness said there was huge, blue explosion, jarring loose several cables which fell to the ground and ignited a small vegetation fire.  Firefighters spent several hours putting out the fire. One of the geese was killed and the other was injured, but later could not be found by one of the people who witnessed the incident.

The power outage affected about 19,000 people and caused several manufacturing plants to shut down.

(added to our Animal-Arson series)

We have another case of animal arson – this time a cow is the culprit. No, it was not Mrs. O’Leary’s cow. And we’re not referring to the 293-acre “Cow fire” near Ukiah, California, it was the 35-acre “Green fire” near Big Sur, California. Both fires were recently contained, but investigators have concluded that a bull on the El Sur Ranch rubbed his horns and back on a power pole until it fell. The lines arced, starting the fire.

Fire investigators are thinking that a woodpecker started a fire that burned 90 acres in northwest Jacksonville, Florida on Sunday. Annaleasa Winter with the Florida Division of Forestry said a woodpecker’s carcass was found near a blown transformer at the point of origin of the fire. It took 100 firefighters assisted by a helicopter six hours to put it out.

This the the third bird-caused fire within the last year. I’m not a conspiracy theorist… I’m just saying.

We have added this to our list of “animal-arson” incidents.

A bear climbed a power pole near Big Bar, Calif., shorted out the wires, electrocuted himself, and started a fire across the highway from the U. S. Forest Service station. The firefighters quickly put out the fire, but the bear did not survive.

We will add this to our animal-arson list.

In November, 2008 we told you about a flock of European Starlings that conspired to start a fire using a power lline:

…the downed line was a result of a huge flock of European starlings — an 8-9 inch glossy black bird — landing on the lines. When the starlings all took off at the same time, it caused the lines to bounce too close to each other, causing the circuit to open up and cutting off power and causing a neutral line to fall to the ground.

And in April, 2009, a sparrow picked up a lit cigarette butt and placed it in it’s nest in the eaves of a store in the UK:

The resulting conflagration caused £250,000 of damage at Crescent Stores in Leasingham, near Sleaford, Lincolnshire.

Now a vulture is the culprit in another case of serial avian-arson. But in this case it is a suicide-arson. From the Katy (Texas) Times:

Firefighters said a vulture was the cause of a fire that destroyed approximately three acres of dry grass and brush on Groeschke Road just west of Highway 6 Wednesday afternoon.

According to a spokesperson at the Houston Fire Department Engine 90, the vulture’s large wingspan caused it to hit the telephone pole, electrocuting it. The dead bird fell, igniting the ground below. Dry conditions and dead grass caused the fire spread quickly.

Look UP when you’re outside….I’m just saying.

How do we deal with this threat? Should we appoint a Special Avian-Arson Commission to look into this? Or a special prosecutor? Should Obama speak out more forcefully on this very serious issue? Where are Newt Gingrich, Rush Limbaugh, and Jon Stewart on this? Has the new Chief of the Forest Service weighed in?

Should we negotiate with the Avians? And, with or without pre-conditions?

A sparrow is the chief suspect in setting a fire in the United Kingdom that burned down a store.  From the Daily Mail:

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When the village store went up in flames, owner Paul Sheriff was at a loss to explain how it had happened.

But eventually a little bird told him the truth.

Insurance investigators concluded that a sparrow must have picked up a smouldering cigarette butt and deposited it among the dry twigs of its nest under the eaves.

The resulting conflagration caused £250,000 of damage at Crescent Stores in Leasingham, near Sleaford, Lincolnshire.

Initial investigations found no gas or electrical faults, but 35 cigarette ends were eventually found in various sparrows’ nests in the roof.

Mr Sheriff, 48, a non-smoker, said: ‘It’s a pity really because I like seeing birds around the place but to think one of these pesky sparrows took a cigarette end onto the roof and caused all this damage is amazing.

Up in smoke: The blaze caused by the nest-building sparrow caused £250,000 in damage

‘At the end of the day, what is done is done. It’s a busy shop and people jump out of their cars, drop their cigarette ends on the floor and come in to buy a packet of fags.

‘I don’t know whose cigarette end it was but the chances of it being mine are nil. I suppose that’s something.’

Mr Sheriff, who has owned the business for eight years, said he escaped thanks to a customer who alerted him to the fire.

‘I was serving in the shop when he ran in and told me I had to get out because the shop was on fire.

‘The roof had disappeared and the upstairs flat had gone. I’d only just decorated the flat and everything was fine up there.

‘The shop was a total mess. All the suspended ceilings came down, all the electrics were down, all the fridges were broken, it was horrendous.

‘The fire brigade came out but came to no conclusion about how it started.

‘Then the forensic investigator from the insurance company, AXA, told me he had enough evidence to conclude that it was a sparrow that took up a cigarette end into the roof.’

An AXA spokesman said: ‘We believe it’s the first case of its kind we’ve ever had to deal with. We had to bring in a specialist to investigate.

‘I’ve certainly never come across this sort of thing before. It’s strange to think how such a little bird armed with such a small object could cause such chaos.’

Mr Sheriff, who lives with his wife Sharon in a pub they run in the same village, finally cleared up and managed to reopen the shop six weeks after the blaze.

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Via @firegeezer