A big fire in the East Bay, near Sunol Regional Wilderness park, has burned about 300 acres. It started around 3:30 p.m. near Calaveras Road and Welch Creek Road in remote Alameda County and spread south, moving uphill. It is in a remote area three miles east of Interstate 680 and there are no structures or homes threatened.
More than 200 firefighters were on the scene, plus two air tankers with fire retardant and two helicopters with water snorkels that they can dip into a nearby reservoir to get water.
The point of origin is believed to be right next to Calaveras Road. Fire investigators will be looking for incendiary accelerants that might have caused this fire, if it had been set. However, we don't yet know if that's the case or not.
The land is owned by the San Francisco Water Department. It is part of the Hetch Hetchy water system.
"It is right up against Sunol Regional Park and there are some roads that we've been able to use with our bulldozers to keep the fire in check. That's where we held it at 300 acres. There was a good potential it would go will over that, potentially 1,000, but we were fortunate that the winds haven't surfaced yet, but the heat is there so it was a tough fight, but I think we've held it," said incident commander Batt. Chief Mike Marcucci.
Fire crews have 90 percent containment. What is helping them is the fact that there are streets and ditches on the other side of the hill that is keeping the fire from advancing. They are keeping plenty of personnel on hand because they're worried about sparks and embers setting off additional grass fires, so this is far from over. They still have to keep that from happening. Fortunately, there is no wind at this point.
CAL FIRE was on scene as well as Alameda County Fire, Fremont Fire, Camp Parks Fire, East Bay Regional Park, and the Department of Corrections had inmates working the lines as well.
No injuries have been reported.
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