Wildfire Cause Discovered - Electrocuted Birds Bursting into Flames

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Electrocuted, flaming bird carcasses are falling off of power lines and causing wildfires across the U.S. This surprisingly common phenomenon has been responsible for at least three Colorado wildfires so far this summer.

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These events are not isolated. A 2022 study found that electrocuted birds caused 44 wildfires in the contiguous United States between 2014 and 2018. That study was led by Taylor Barnes, a biologist who now works for electric utility company EDM International. In the paper, Barnes wrote that “avian-caused ignitions” happen when a bird sits on an overhead power line. For reasons that can vary from case to case, sometimes the bird receives a powerful electrical shock, setting its feathers on fire. The dead or dying bird then falls, and, on occasion, lands in some brush or other flammable material.

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On July 13, a fire in Colorado’s Arapahoe County that destroyed a home and a dozen outbuildings appeared to be caused by one such flaming avian. The Denver Post reported that more than 1,100 acres were burned in the blaze. Barnes said one possible reason the bird burst into flames was that it was looking for a snack inside an arrester cap. “Sometimes what can happen is insects can get inside that cap,” he told 9News. “That attracts birds. Birds like to eat insects, in particular woodpeckers and crows, so something like that could have sat on the jumper wire and pecked into that arrester cap trying to get to the insects, making contact with the energized components and then causing it to catch fire.”

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