Crash sparks Arnold Drive grass fire

The line came down, the field went up – but the driver is safe.
That was the situation on Arnold Drive between Olive and Petaluma Avenues Thursday, after a man drove his Toyota Camry northbound into a power pole around 2:30 p.m. The impact dislodged a wire, sparking a two-acre blaze and sending up a thick plume of brown smoke that could be seen and smelled from Sonoma Plaza.
Three engines and an ambulance from the Sonoma Valley Fire and Rescue Authority were on scene and bringing the fire under control within minutes.
“The electricity in my house turned off for a second,” said Arnold Drive resident Dave Deem, watching firefighters douse six-foot flames. “We heard kind of a little ‘bang,’ then the electricity came back on.”
The Camry sustained severe front-end damage but the driver, Jose Magpanua, didn’t offer details other than saying he was both uninjured and “felt very lucky.” He said that after the crash, a sheriff’s cruiser pushed his car from the scene and into a driveway on the other side of the road.
The cause of the accident was still under investigation at presstime.