Here’s what caused the smoke east of Birch Bay Friday afternoon

.North Whatcom Fire and Rescue and Whatcom County Fire Districts 7 and 17 mopped up a series of brush fires east of Birch Bay Friday afternoon.

According to Pulse Point, the initial call went out at 1:44 p.m. for the 4600 block of Bay Road. A second alarm also was called.

John Gargett, deputy director of the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office Division of Emergency Management, said crews responded to three separate fires along Bay Road.

“All three are currently under control,” Gargett said. “Earlier, there were some homes that were threatened, but there’s no longer a threat to them. ... No homes were damaged.”

Bay Road between Jackson Road and Blaine was closed for a time, Gargett said.

A motorhome dragging a chain, emitting sparks, was thought to be the cause of the fires, according to emergency radio traffic.

The cause of the fire is under investigation by the Whatcom County Fire Marshal. An emergency radio call at 2:45 p.m. also said that one of the fires had damaged a pole carrying power lines and that Puget Sound Energy was being contacted.

No outages were reported.

The Department of Natural Resources also was contacted about the fire, according to emergency radio traffic.

This story was originally published July 20, 2018 at 2:24 PM.