Squirrel Eats Power Line For Lunch, Triggers Brush Fire, He Gets Fried

Many of us love squirrels because of their furry appearance and seemingly cute demeanor. But in reality they're like raccoons, only they have better manners.

West Richland police and fire crews now say that Monday's 300 square foot brush fire near King and Maple Lane was due to a squirrel trying to eat a power line, causing a short, and triggering the blaze.

Around noon, residents reported hearing a loud 'pop', then noticed smoke rising from the base of the power pole. Fire and police crews were quickly able to beat down the flames, but not before it torched a decent sized area. Officials say due to help from area neighbors, they were able to keep it from spreading as it was moving rapidly. Had they not arrived quickly, it would have moved rapidly into the neighborhood.

Dry conditions didn't help either. Authorities say the squirrel's actions caused the transformer to short, Benton REA arrived and fixed the damage after a short neighborhood outage.

No remains of the squirrel were found, but one of out pictures likely shows what he was trying to eat before he met his zapping demise. It's believed he burned up, but didn't explode like many people think happens when they do this.