Shortly before a brush fire was first reported on the south side of Simi Valley, the Police Department received a phone call.
It came from a man in the 2600 block of Rudolph Drive at about 10:15 a.m. Monday, Sgt. Rick Morton said. The caller told police he was driving a tractor.
“(The man) said that he hit a rock, which caused a spark that started a brush fire,” Morton said.
Rudolph Drive is adjacent to Sandy Avenue, near where the fire that became named the Sandy fire broke out.
The Sandy fire was first reported before 11 a.m., officials have said.
Police do not know what the man was doing with the tractor at the time it hit the rock, Morton said. The department is not viewing the incident as a crime.
It has not been determined that was the start of the Sandy fire, with Ventura County Fire Department spokesman Andy Van Sciver saying Tuesday afternoon that the cause was still under investigation.
The blaze had burned through 1,385 acres as of Tuesday afternoon, May 19. At least one home has been severely damaged.