Marin County Fire Department battling fire near Woodacre

WOODACRE, Calif. (KGO) -- In the lineage of California wildland fires, the 38-acre blaze named the Pine Fire will not go down in any history books for being memorable. It began above Woodacre at 10:30 Tuesday morning beneath power lines that probably sparked. It's a common cause.

"Typically the wind blows and causes the wires to slap," Marin County Deputy Chief Mark Brown said. His agency went after the fire early, with helicopters and tankers.
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The terrain is so touch that two fire trucks blew tires getting out there. The agency is grateful that what happened today did not occur during last week's triple-digit heat wave.

"If it has been hot and we had seen winds, we would be actively fighting 400-500 acres," Brown said.

Much of Marin County faces an underlying threat because much of the region has not burned in 50-60 years. That's decades-old fuel, the year after a drought.

"In 1945, a fire burned from Novato to Woodacre," Deputy Chief Brown noted. "In 1929, a 2,000 acre fire burned through a footprint that now contains thousands of homes. And, they are surrounded by that old fuel."
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Those are sobering thoughts at the beginning of a fire season.



"It's not a question of if," said Brown. "It's when."