By Michelle Beaver
Inside Bay Area (California)
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CASTRO VALLEY, Calif. — A pair of grass fires burned along Interstate 580 Saturday, the second incident in the Castro Valley hills in two days.
The latest fires started late Saturday morning, on westbound 580, between Castro Valley and Dublin. The California Highway Patrol closed one westbound lane of the freeway and traffic was reportedly backed up to Pleasanton at one point.
One fire at Eden Canyon Road burned 30 acres, and the other, a quarter-mile east, scorched 10, Alameda County Deputy Fire Chief Sheldon Gilbert said.
“We made a very aggressive attack on the fires,” he said. “It was very good coordination. We were concerned because (the fire) was moving at a rapid speed up steep hills, and we wanted to make certain that it didn’t get to any structures on the other side.”
Alameda County fire crews along with firefighters from the California Department of Forestry and other agencies fought the fire along with water drops from planes and helicopters.
The fires did not converge, and firefighters were able to extinguish them by 12:45 p.m. No homes were threatened and there were no injuries.
On Friday night, fire broke out on the south side of Lake Chabot. It consumed about 10 acres on steep terrain and lasted into the early morning when it was brought under control.
All three fires have burned a total of more than 50 acres of rural land in two days.
The blazes are under investigation. No one was injured. Local firefighters have been busy lately, Gilbert said.
“This time of year with the high temperatures you do get grass fires. It’s not uncommon,” he said. “Nothing to date tells us they’re related.”