Fire investigators say a hawk, sparked a field fire this afternoon that came dangerously close to burning down a farm house in beaufort county.

Firefighters responded to a freshly cut wheat field off pamlico beach road just before 5:30 this afternoon.

The dry stubs left in the field quickly spread, but John Pack with Emergency Management says, the winds died down long enough for them to gain the upper hand on the flames.

Crews from Sidney, Belhaven And Pantego, protected the structure from the raging flames and put out hot spots. In the end, 8 acres had been burned.

Later they found a dead hawk at the base of a electrical pole and downed powerlines.

They suspect the hawk landed on the wires, snapped the powerlines, causing sparks to rain down on the field.