As far as bizarre stories go, this one is pretty high on the list.
Like many parts of the country, Montana experienced a very dry summer that put a lot of strain on firefighters with fires that kept popping up and getting out of hand. People and lightning are the fairly common causes of wildfires since sparks from any leftover fire or bolt can have devastating side effects on a dry area. Luckily animals aren’t a cause for concern over their fire starting abilities, right?
Not exactly. At least, not in the case of a hungry hawk that grabbed a snake and caused a 40-acre wildfire that burned for over an hour in Great Falls. It turns out the fire started when the hawk hit some power lines.
“Sparks from the shock were sent to the ground, which is what caused the fire,” said firefighter Kyra Vanisko. “Thankfully everyone (except for the hawk and snake) is okay.”
Since birds can stand on powerlines without electrocuting themselves, it’s likely that the snake made contact with a second wire which caused them to be electrocuted.
“Birds don’t get electrocuted when they are touching wires because they don’t represent a path to ground, giving the electricity nowhere to go but back to the wire,” explained the Indiana Electric Cooperatives. “If the bird happens to touch two wires at once, or a wire and a ground, they will get electrocuted.”
