Home Brentwood Thursday: Fire Crews Battle Fire for 6-hours Limiting Damage to 33-Acres

Thursday: Fire Crews Battle Fire for 6-hours Limiting Damage to 33-Acres

by ECT

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At 5:06 pm Thursday evening, crews from East Contra Costa Fire Protection District responded to a grass fire being reported out in unincorporated Contra Costa County off Marsh Creek Road. Upon arrival, the battalion chief who was first on scene  realized the danger and immediately called for a full vegetation fire response from CALFIRE.

The incident tied up District resources for nearly 6-hours as Battalion Chief Jeff Burris could be heard on radio stating the fire danger was potentially “thousands of acres”.

At the time of his arrival, 3-acres were approximately on fire. He reported the fire to be quickly spreading and on a steep slope. In response, Stations 52, Station 54 rushed to the scene along with CALFiRE resources—in total, 37-firefighters worked the vegetation fire. They successfully limited the damage to 33-acres along with multiple air drops of water.

According to Battalion Chief Burris, he had to make a quick decision based on the current situation and potential.

“This was going to be a difficult access to get crews in here to put it out before it gets to big,” said Burris. “There was no fire trail, so the approach included some off-roading on what used to be a fire trail. It’s just but not maintained so access was very difficult.”

According to Burris,  it took crews15-20 minutes to get to the fire once they were even off Marsh Creek Road.

Burris credits CALFIRE with the assist who helped with the aircraft and provide much needed back up on the ground.  Although ECCFPD crews were aggressive in their attack, Burris admits they would not have been able to handle it without the depth of resources from CALFIRE and the aircraft which may or may not have been available depending on what else was going on in the State.

“It was making a big push up the hill because the wind picked up, but we were able to cut it off,” said Burris.

Burris suggested that without the added resources, the fire may have spread close to Brentwood if the wind had picked up a little more, but noted no homes were in danger during this incident.

CALFIRE is investigating the cause of the fire.

District Uncovered for a Period of Time

It should e noted that because of the resources on this call, with 93-on a 3-hour hazardous material accident, the District was left uncovered for periods of time. Engine 88 was spotted heading to a medical call from Folsom Drive in Antioch all the way to Ruby Terrace because all units were committed. The trip was a 6-miles and 10-12 minute response depending on traffic.

 

 

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1 comment

YHSc Jun 1, 2013 - 5:29 pm

Thanks Cal Fire for doing your job. Thanks ECCF for doing your job. Thanks Burk for Oakley for sensationalizing it. Thanks for all the people who pay taxes so these people can do their job and retire at 50 years old. Life is good.

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