Fire investigators determined last week what started the
6,400-acre Gloria Fire near Soledad, and now are looking for the
people responsible.
By Kevin Howe, McClatchy News Service
Fire investigators determined last week what started the 6,400-acre Gloria Fire near Soledad, and now are looking for the people responsible.
Fragments of a pistol-launched firecracker cartridge were found at the source of the fire near a vineyard off Camphora-Gloria Road, said Cal Fire investigator Cliff Williams.
It is a type of agricultural firework commonly used to scare birds out of vineyards, he said.
Row crop farmers usually use bird cannons – propane-fired noisemakers that go off automatically every 20 seconds – which expel no hot sparks or other residue, Williams said.
Grape growers prefer the fireworks, shot from a hand-held pistol “that looks like a toy pistol,” Williams said. One type is called a “whistler,” which emits a loud shriek and leaves a casing behind. The other is a small explosive “bird bomb” designed to burst in the air, and its casing breaks into fragments.
Small brushfires accidentally lit by bird bombs aren’t that uncommon, Williams said, but they’re usually put out quickly.
“What happens occasionally,” he said, “is one of the things will get shot and end up in the vegetation.”
The Gloria Fire broke out Thursday at the vineyard, operated by Constellation Wines, and quickly spread through dry grassland.
A home and an outbuilding were destroyed before the fire was contained Tuesday. Williams said Cal Fire estimates the cost of suppressing it at $4 million, though that amount could go up.
Finding out whose crew set it off and under what circumstances, he said, will take some time.
