Eden Fire in Saratoga Hills 40 percent contained

Matt Keller Image
ByMatt Keller KGO logo
Tuesday, July 18, 2017
Eden Fire in Saratoga Hills 40 percent contained
Firefighters are still busy battling a wildfire in the Saratoga Hills. The weather overnight helped and they hope to increase containment even more today.

SARATOGA, Calif. (KGO) -- Firefighters are still busy battling a wildfire in Saratoga. The weather overnight helped and they hope to increase containment even more today. The good news is it's not threatening any homes.

Firefighters from all across Santa Clara County gathered this morning for a briefing on the Eden Fire at Cal Fire's Stevens Creek station.

The good news is the weather -- Saratoga saw cooler temperatures and fog overnight keeping the fire from spreading. Firefighters will keep digging around the fire today trying to increase containment from 40 percent, but will not have to deal with excessive heat.

RELATED: Grass fire burns near Mount Eden Winery in Saratoga

The area off Mount Eden Road and pierce road hasn't seen a fire in a long time which means there's a lot of brush to burn.

"There is a potential for an Oakland Hills type fire here. It's just that we don't get that southern exposure and dry effect that they had in Oakland but the fuel load is huge," said Ryan Cronin, Santa Clara County fire spokesman.

Most residents in Santa Clara County received an emergency alert yesterday to their cell phones telling residents on Mount Eden Road to shelter in place. Firefighters say that was a mistake, it shouldn't have gone county wide and was not a shelter in place. No homes were threatened. They just wanted to keep the roads clear for their heavy equipment.

A Cal Fire helicopter had to be grounded after a drone was spotted in the sky. That drone was captured. Firefighters say it's illegal to fly over an emergency area and the person who was operating the drone could be charged with a misdemeanor.

"Most likely this was just someone who was interested and not following the rules. Fortunately no helicopter crashed no people were injured. And we'll go from there," said Cronin.

The fire spokesman wouldn't say if they've identified the pilot of the drone, but only say their investigation continues.