The Riverside Drive fire on April 24 that resulted in multiple agencies responding and evacuations ordered, was caused by a vehicle that ignited dry grass as it drove through the bosque.
Española Fire Marshall Pablo Montoya wrote in a press release that “strong evidence” indicates that the car started the 44-acre blaze on tribal and city-owned land. He declared the fire accidental.
“According to the investigation, the vehicle became stuck in marshland and subsequently ignited the surrounding dry grass,” Montoya wrote.
The driver tried to put out the fire, couldn’t, then called 911.
The fire burned one building, one vehicle and multiple sections of fencing, he wrote.
No one was hurt in the blaze.
Vehicles starting fires in dry grass is common. When semi-trailers brake, the ultra-hot particles thrown off can hit dry grass and ignite.
On the underside of cars mobbing through grassland, the extremely hot catalytic converter and muffler can ignite fires.
According to a release from the federal Natural Resources Conversation Service, the outside of a catalytic converter can reach 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
“Fires can then start when flammable materials, such as dry grass and seeds, collect on the exhaust/CC system or if the vehicle is parked where dried vegetation touches this system,” according to the Natural Resources Conversation Service.