Transformer explosion sparks grass fire in Santa Barbara

Firefighters said they don’t know why a transformer overheated and sparked a small brush fire on Venado Dr. in Santa Barbara County on Monday afternoon.

They said it could have been caused by a bird or by neighbors using too much power on a hot summer day.

Neighbor Sonny Urzua grabbed a bucket and a water hose and did his best to put the brushfire out before Santa Barbara County firefighters arrived.

“I got buckets, my Home Depot buckets, luckily my neighbor threw me another hose, and we linked them together, I was out there in my flip-flops and just tried to put it out and luckily stuck with it, and then the fire department came,” said Urzua.

Firefighters said the homeowner did a good job clearing brush around his property before the fire started about an hour before sundowner winds picked up. Neighbors said they felt lucky the fire didn’t spread.

Edison had crews working to replace power poles in high fire danger areas nearby.

Edison’s region manager Rudy Gonzales said they wouldn’t reschedule maintenance unless temperatures soared into triple digits.

Gonzales said they issued a Flex Alert asking customers to be flexible with their energy consumption. The highest energy consumption these days is between 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. when solar power is offline.

For more information on Flex Alerts, click here.