Falling Fish Causes Wildfire

It's not every day that a fish starts a wildfire, but that's what authorities say happened in British Columbia last week. In a Facebook post, Ashcroft Fire Rescue said a small brush fire was ignited when a fish fell onto a power line around two miles from the nearest river, the New York Times reports. "The fish had been dropped by a local osprey onto the hydro line causing embers to drop, along with the fish, to the dry grasses below," the post explained. "We do suspect by the size of the fish and the heat of the day probably caused the rather tired bird to drop its catch. Or another suspicion could be that it's tired of raw fish and wanted to give cooked a try." The agency shared a photo of the fish.

Ashcroft Fire said the "prime suspect" was not injured "and is still flying at large." The fire caused a power outage in Ashcroft, a village around 210 miles northeast of Vancouver. Fire chief Josh White tells the CBC that after the fire was quickly extinguished with help from local ranchers and BC Hydro employees, an investigation of the cause began. "We get out there and right at the base of the pole, we find this charred fish," White says. "And we're just wondering, how did this get here?"