Grass fire comes dangerously close to 40 Antioch homes

ANTIOCH, Calif. (KGO) -- A fast-moving grass fire comes within inches of homes in the East Bay, sending smoke billowing into a neighborhood and one person to the hospital.

The flames spread fast. The fire started a little after 7 p.m. in an open space near Pawnee Drive in Antioch. That's not far from Deer Valley High School.

About 40 homes were standing in the path of the flames on top of a hill and homeowners were right at their fence line spaying the fire with their garden hoses. The flames melted part of the fence.

The firefighters knew they had to get to the top of the hill and meet the flames, but they had to run into several backyards, while breaking down a few fences to do so. Homeowners say they did it in the nick of time.

Resident April Martinez described the concern for her home and both homes next door to her. She said, "Within seconds it was at our fence, just in the tree and by the time the firemen came they had to knock down their fence, and so we started spraying down their fence down too because they weren't home and then on the other side, they weren't home and it was just really scary."

Resident Louie Emerick said, "And then it started tornadoing up to me, in my face and everything, and I just kind of moved my face [away] as I was spraying it. And then it came right under this tree, in the back it was hanging over, and then all of a sudden the branches, 25 feet up in the air, [there were] flames."

Not one home was burned in this fire, but one neighbor did suffer from smoke inhalation while fighting it. Fortunately, the winds were down and that's what prevented the fire from spreading even quicker.

Fire officials are investigating what caused the fire.