CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. -- Will Walker could not believe his eyes as he drove along Route 360 near the Magnolia subdivisions in Chesterfield last night.
Along the side of the road, he saw near-perfect circles of fire burning along the tree line.
"They seemed to keep getting bigger and bigger as we kept passing by them. There had to be at least 15 or so separate fires," Walker said.
Walker said he was stunned.
"I've never seen anything like that in my life. Not spread out and burning outward into almost perfect shapes. It was crazy!" he said.
What could cause such a sight?
While Walker joked it might have been aliens, Chief Deputy Fire Marshal Sal Luciano had a much simpler and earth-bound explanation.
"We see this happen from time to time," Luciano explained. "It's usually caused by sparks coming from a vehicle."
In this case, according to Luciano, the sparks came from a white truck dragging a catalytic converter. At least that's what witnesses told firefighters.
"We will follow up with the truck driver to make sure the driver is aware," Luciano said.
So what about the near-perfect fire circles?
“Fire burns outwards in all directions especially if the wind is not affecting it or a change in terrain," Luciano said.
Because the fires appeared to be accidental, Luciano did not expect a big investigation into the matter.
He did say the situation could have been much worse had it occurred on a dry and windy summer day.
The damp weather allowed the Chesterfield fire department to respond and extinguish the fires, 10 -12 of them in all, relatively quickly, he said.
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