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Comment by Greenman on September 2, 2010 at 7:55am

it wasn't static.

Try it in your back yard: take a hard rock like flint or granite and strike the top of it with a glancing blow using a golf club with a steel plate on the bottom of the head one evening and see how many sparks you get.

You won't get "A" spark, you'll get a small shower of sparks.

Flint and steel was the standard way of starting fires in the Lewis and Clark Expedition, and throughout history up until the late Nineteenth Century and the invention of Sulfur Matches.

Greenman

Comment by Peter Doyle on September 1, 2010 at 4:25pm

If one spark, presuming he hit the ball once can start a fire, then anyone with static electricity on their shoes, clothes or other items is a fire risk

Comment by Oldman on September 1, 2010 at 3:50pm

Could it happen? Yes, it's possible.

Did it happen that way, or could it be that the golfer was smoking, stopped to take a whiz in the rough, and dropped his cigarette?

Sounds more believable to me.

Comment by Greenman on September 1, 2010 at 7:56am

You were never a Boy Scout were you?

Steel on flint, or similar rock, will cause some very large sparks. Given how tinder-dry the brush is California is this time of year (we call the Autumn "Fire Season"), this is not only possible, it's amazing it doesn't happen more often.

Greenman

Comment by Paul Montpetit on September 1, 2010 at 1:16am

Peter, if we have learned anything about fire....it's never to say never....I know it sounds rather strange and far fetched...but if the Chief on scene says it happened then legally thats what happened....Chief is responsible for determining cause......