Byron: Firefighters Prevent Boat and RV Damage During 52-acre Fire

At 4:47 pm Wednesday, East Contra Costa firefighters responded to a report of a vegetation fire along the Byron Highway in Byron.

While en route, fire crews observed a large cloud of dark smoke near the Byron Airport near Bruns Road. Upon a closer look, the fire was located on Clifton Court Road where Battalion Chief 5 reported a 10-acre vegetation fire.

Upon seeing the fire being wind driven, an immediate mutual aid request was made for a strike team to go into structure protection for a boat and RV storage facility located on the west side of Lazy M Marina—units from as far away as Tracy responded.

CALFIRE assists in a 52-acre vegetation fire in Byron on June 8, 2015. Photo by Matthias Parenti

In total, 30-firefighters were on scene battling the fire which included ECCFPD, CONFIRE, Tracy Fire and CALFIRE with all incoming units requested to move into structure protection.

According to Battalion Chief 5, units allowed the left flank of the fire to burn out along the roadside while the right flank conducted a mobile fire attack to extinguish the fire.

Firefighters were able to prevent any structures from being lost as well as any boat or RV while battling 40-mph winds. In total, the fire burned 52 acres.

Fire Chief Hugh Henderson was pleased with the response to the incident.

“ The Battalion Chief made an excellent decision ordering the resources quickly. He arrived on scene first made his initial size up and saw the potential for losing numerous RVs and boats based on conditions,” said Henderson. “He also knew the time and distance to getting mutual aid resources on scene was going to take a long time. With the wind, this fire could have had a much different outcome and we continue to be lucky.”

According to the District, the probable cause is a blown PG&E transformer.