All he wanted to do was plug up a wasp nest because he’s allergic to bees and worried about being stung. That created a spark that grew into the largest wildfire in state history.
A structure burns in Mendocino Complex fire, which was sparked from a stake driven into grassland by a Potter Valley rancher trying to plug up a wasp nest. The wildfire was ruled an accident. about being stung.
“What we’ve seen in the past is people wait too long to call because they think they can extinguish it themselves. And instead of being a 10-by-20-foot fire it’s an acre. Then fast forward ... and now it’s 5 acres,” Brown said. “We don’t expect the person who doesn’t have experience to fully understand the potential. But we’re always trying to educate.”
In desperation, he broke off a PVC line also connected to the water tank and tried to squeeze the flow toward the flames, but the PVC hole was too wide, his thumb too small and the fire was too far for the water to reach it. Over the following weeks, the fire vanquished every attempt to stop it. In its first 12 days, it jumped at least four creeks, a major road and a bulldozer-cut firebreak, all of which have traditionally served as defensive fronts in firefighting.
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