By Hannah Dreier, Rowena Coetsee and Robert Salonga
The Contra Costa Times
BRADFORD ISLAND, Calif. — Residents using hoses, tractors and a single water truck have been fighting fires on their own here since Saturday morning despite multiple visits by firefighters to the island.
At least five single-family homes, a cottage and a mobile home have been consumed by what began as a small vegetation fire but spread until the island’s extensive accumulation of peat began burning, residents say.
Bradford Island is not protected by a fire agency. The closest, East Contra Costa Fire District, only responds to fires outside its jurisdiction when lives are in jeopardy, acting Chief Hugh Henderson said.
Flames so far have ravaged about 550 acres, according to Henderson.
East Contra Costa firefighters visited the island several times throughout the holiday weekend but did not take any steps to put out the blaze, say residents, whose hopes repeatedly were raised only to be dashed. They said they were told the agency was there strictly to ensure their safety.
“People are frustrated that there are not fire personnel out there,” Henderson said. “I’m not trying to sound cold or anything, but we’re attending to our own district.”
Among the damaged structures on the densely vegetated island are homes, boat docks and a pump station.
Some residents are getting by with backup generators because they haven’t had electricity since Saturday night.
Alameda resident Liz Lighthouse brought several friends to her vacation house on the island to celebrate the Fourth of July holiday, and found herself among those trying to put out the fire.
Lighthouse bought her home knowing that she would not have any fire protection but has been disappointed by the lack of attention from emergency services, which she believes she is entitled to as a taxpayer.
“At this point, we’re not really expecting much from anybody because there hasn’t really been anything so far,” she said.
East Contra Costa Fire first responded to the blaze Saturday morning but left the island after confirming that no lives were in danger and authorizing a helicopter water drop.
Firefighters returned that night with the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office to organize the voluntary evacuation of 15 people, and came back again Sunday evening to help sheriff’s and U.S. Coast Guard personnel clear a downed power line. Firefighters also watered down the ferry slip, which is the only way vehicles can reach the island.
Concord resident Karen Cunningham estimated that the fire had blackened about six acres of the approximately 132-acre cattle ranch she and her husband operate on the island.
They moved their herd three times to save it but lost a boat trailer and two large containers filled with horse, cattle and fencing supplies as well as other tools, she said.
Cunningham said that she and about 10 others have been working to put out the fire, carrying portable tanks of water in pickup trucks from one site to the next and using hoses to fill irrigation ditches.
Here and there, plumes of smoke were still wafting from the charred landscape Tuesday afternoon, and a stiff wind carried ash through open windows. The flames had downed telephone poles and left only a scattering of metal debris where houses had stood.
About 15 people live on the island year-round, Cunningham said, with the majority of residences vacation homes. The island is accessible only by boat.
Contra Costa County Office of Emergency Services helped with the evacuation, brought in the American Red Cross to provide temporary housing assistance, and monitored the fire to ensure that the residents who have chosen to stay aren’t in imminent danger.
The island is one of a handful that have not been in any fire district since Contra Costa County was created in 1850. Fighting fires ultimately falls to property owners, said Chris Boyer, Office of Emergency Services manager.
“One would hope that when they buy real estate, someone tells them that,” he said.
State-run CAL FIRE doesn’t have jurisdiction over Bradford Island, either.
“It’s a unique animal,” said agency spokeswoman Julie Hutchinson of the island.
The fire is reminiscent of a blaze in April 2008 on Sherman Island, where grasslands burned for an entire weekend and sent clouds of smoke toward Contra Costa County.
That island, too, was in a jurisdictional no man’s land, and agencies generally stayed back once they determined that no people were in danger.
Residents who live in remote areas generally can expect different levels of fire service than they would in populated areas, Hutchinson said.
Cunningham said the fire started at approximately 9 a.m. Saturday, and calls were made to the fire department throughout the day.
“It could have been extinguished so easy,” she said.
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