Untended Fire Gets Out of Control
By Pete Skiba - Wednesday, May 31, 2000
A firefighter sprays foam on a woodpile in an effort to put out a fire that got out of hand near a home on Bonnie View Drive in Grass Valley Tuesday. (Photo by Eileen Joyce)
An unattended barrel fire got out of control Tuesday night and spread through two cords of wood neatly stacked to be next winter's fuel.
The fire was below power lines in the yard of John and Marianne Murphy's home at 10976 Bonnie View Way, off McCourtney Road. It brought the lines down on a chicken-wire fence surrounding the wood, a garden shed and a utility cart.
"We had just gotten a hose over the fence when it (the power line) came down and energized the fence," said Nevada County Consolidated Fire Department Chief Tim Fike. "But this was a good one - no one was injured."
Firefighters had the small fire under control within about a half-hour.
The garden shed was slightly burned and the utility cart was a total loss, as was the firewood, Fike said.
Marianne Murphy, 70, left her husband John, 73, and daughter-in-law Cissy to check on the barrel fire a little after 7 p.m., she said. When she saw the fire, she called out to them and they ran out to the yard.
"We've lived here for 35 years and never had a problem burning in the drum," John Murphy said.
Pacific Gas and Electric was there to handle the power lines. Grass Valley City Fire Department was on scene as was California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
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