Cal Fire investigates multiple potential arson cases after 15 small brush fires broke out around Healdsburg the night of Monday, Sept. 6.

Cal Fire’s Sonoma-Lake-Napa unit and other fire agencies across Sonoma County were first alerted to a fire off Bailhache Ave. at around 8:10 p.m. Monday night. Over the next couple hours, at least 14 additional fires began popping up around the Healdsburg area.

According to a Cal Fire news release, posted to Twitter on Sept. 7, from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, “The final fire was reported off West Dry Creek Road just before 10:00 pm. By 11:30 pm 15 fires were located and contained after burning approximately 6 acres. The largest fire of the night was located off Chiquita Road and was contained after burning approximately 2 acres. At the peak of firefighting operations approximately 80 fire personnel were assigned to the fires including 20 fire engines, 6 water tenders, and 3 bulldozers.”

Reserve Battalion Chief Mark Basque, with the Healdsburg Fire Department, reported in a statement for ABC7 Bay Area News that “fire crews were really stretched thin due to the number of fires. It went on for probably 90 minutes. Every 20 minutes another fire was set.” Fortunately, no evacuations were needed and there have been no reports of injury or property damage.

While investigations are still underway and the cause of the fires has yet to be definitively stated, many community members and officials suspect arson as the cause due to the unusual volume of the small fires and close timing in which they were discovered.

California State Senator Mike McGuire posted about the fires on Twitter Monday night describing them as “suspicious” and prompted residents to “stay alert” even after the fires were extinguished.   

One of the last updates posted to Twitter by Sonoma County Scanner Updates stated that arson is suspected to be the cause behind the fires and encouraged the community to report any suspicious activities they may have seen.

Kent Porter, a climate photojournalist with the Press Democrat who was following the fires, posting images and updates to his Twitter account, said in a quote for The Press Democrat, “I’ve been here 34 years and have never seen a night like this, with eight to 10 fires started within 30 minutes to an hour of each other.”   

ABC7 News Reporter, Amy Hollyfield, reported to Twitter the morning after the fires that “firefighters are staged throughout Healdsburg this morning after responding to at least 10 fires last night. They suspect someone started the fires. They got them out quickly – the fires were small and did not damage any homes or buildings.”

Despite the overwhelming suspicion of arson, each fire is being investigated individually. 

“Every fire is its own unique event,” said Cal Fire Division Chief Ben Nicholls in a quote for The Press Democrat, “We would be remiss in not using the scientific method that we are trained to use as fire investigators.

Nicholls emphasized that no conclusion has been made in regard to the cause of the fires saying, “We don’t want to get sucked into a confirmation bias. It’s not infrequent to have fires that are lining up with one cause only to find out that it was some fluke or some curveball.”

Regardless, in a community annually devastated by fires, residents were shaken by the thought of another arsonist in the area, especially given that Cal Fire reported on their Twitter account back in May that “the first 4 months of 2021 Cal Fire Law Enforcement Officers have arrested 44 Arson Suspects, an average of 1 arrest every 3 days.” 

Since then, Cal Fire has reported that this number has risen to 103 arson-related arrests have been made this year in California as of Sept. 1. 

The Northern Sonoma County Fire District thanked the community and the other agencies that assisted in combating the fires in a Tweet posted Sept. 7 which read, “Thank you to our community for being so vigilant and remaining calm during this unusual event. We have all lived through more than one stressful fire here in Sonoma County and everyone reacts differently. Please be kind to your neighbor, friend or acquaintance who feels traumatized by this event, we have all been through so much.”