“Electrical fires cannot be fought through conventional means. That means the firefighters can arrive on scene and do nothing except put short bursts of water on the surrounding area. They cannot touch a blazing cell tower with water because to do so is to risk electrocution. The fire department will call the utility company to cut the power. How these fires are fought is determined by local fire departments and therefore placement of these towers must be determined at the local level.” – Continue reading:

Source: AB 537 & Cell Tower Fire Risks
Author: Susan Foster, Utility & Fire Prevention Consultant, Medical Writer, Honorary Firefighter, San Diego Fire Department, USA
Published: April 26, 2021
By: Physicians for Safe Technology

More:

[1] Cell Tower Fires
A collection of pictures, videos and articles
By: Katie Singer
Published on: Our Web Of Inconvenient Truths

[2] Environmental Health Trust
Published: November 2, 2024
Fact Sheet: Federal Legislation on Wireless Communications
– Wildfire Risks From Cell Tower Proliferation
– Wireless Facilities Create Fire Risk
– Wireless Facilities Have Caused Damaging Fires

[3] Environmental Health Trust
Published: July 16, 2025
Cell Tower Safety Risks: Fire, Ice, & Collapse

[4] Preserve Orlando’s Neighborhoods
Support Responsible Citing of Cell Phone Towers
“Cell phone towers pose safety risks to communities. One significant concern is the potential for fires. Electrical components within cell towers, such as wiring and batteries, can malfunction or overheat, leading to electrical fires and release of toxic chemicals. These fires can quickly spread and pose a danger to nearby structures and communities.” [with videos]

Additional information

• Santa Fe * New Mexican
  Reader View: Deforestation — a crime of the highest order
  Published: Jul 25, 2015
  By: Arthur Firstenberg

• Wikipedia: Chapter: Campaign against microwave technology – “Firstenberg also was a member of an organization in Santa Fe, New Mexico, called “Once a Forest“, which promotes fire suppression on public lands. The group opposes forest management policies such as thinning and prescribed fire. Their views are controversial.”

• Santa Fe * New Mexican
  Studies question wisdom of thinning forests to stop fires
  Published: April 11, 2015
  By: Staci Matlock
  Updated: May 12, 2025

“In 2011, a downed power line sparked the massive Las Conchas wildfire that roared through homes and scorched 156,000 acres of forest in the Jemez Mountains. And that was just the beginning of the damage. In the weeks that followed, rains washed tons of ash and sediment off the blistered slopes into the Rio Grande, forcing the city of Santa Fe to shut down a river diversion system for six weeks.”

“Citing such studies, Jan Boyer and Arthur Firstenberg of the Santa Fe-based Once A Forest ¹ are among those who vehemently oppose prescribed burns and thinning any old-growth trees. They believe allowing fires to burn and setting prescribed fires add to climate change by adding carbon to the air. ‘Save every tree you can because it is absorbing carbon and storing all the carbon it encountered in its lifetime,’ Boyer said.”

Footnotes

1. The website “onceaforest.org” does not exist anymore. ↩︎
2. “The Las Conchas Fire began at approximately 1 PM on June 26, 2011 just west of the park. In its first 13 hours it burned over 44,000 acres or almost an acre a second. Over the next weeks it grew to over 156,000 acres and became the largest wildfire in New Mexico history. The fire started with a tree falling onto a power line. Once it began the extremely flammable vegetation from a record breaking dry year allowed the fire to grow quickly, pushed by strong winds toward the east and into the park. All the major watersheds within Bandelier were heavily impacted by the fire including Frijoles Canyon, where the visitor center and main visited archeological sites are located. Over 75% of Frijoles Canyon lay within the fire’s footprint, much of it burned with high severity.” Source: National Park Service, Bandelier National Monument.
   Photos of Las Conchas Fire and its effects ↩︎