A flock of birds is being blamed for downing a power line that ignited a large brush fire Tuesday afternoon in Lake Point.

Just before 1 p.m., firefighters were dispatched to a fire on a vacant piece of land just south of the Lake Point McDonald’s on SR-36. Upon arrival, the fire, which firefighters said was caused by downed power lines in the area, had already charred two acres of brush.

A light south wind carried the flames northward and expanded the burn region to six acres. Captain Paul Greene, of the Stansbury Fire Station, said employees and patrons of the neighboring McDonald’s had to be evacuated while fire crews tried to contain the flames.

“The flames were quite large,” Greene said. “Everything was extremely dry in the area so it didn’t take much for it to spread.”

Seven fire trucks from both the North Tooele County Fire District and the Grantsville Fire Department, and 12 firefighters, worked quickly to combat the fire. They had the flames doused in approximately 30 minutes.

Margaret Oler, spokesperson for Rocky Mountain Power, said the downed line was a result of a huge flock of European starlings — an 8-9 inch glossy black bird — landing on the lines. When the starlings all took off at the same time, it caused the lines to bounce too close to each other, causing the circuit to open up and cutting off power and causing a neutral line to fall to the ground.

“A neutral line is a line that is not energized,” Oler said.

Rocky Mountain Power isn’t sure that the downed line is the cause of the fire, but is still investigating the incident, according to Oler.

The open circuit resulted in a loss of power for 125 customers in the Lake Point area. The lines were repaired and power was completely restored just before 3 p.m., Oler said.

Jamie Belnap: jamieb@tooeletranscript.com