Fast spread of Corral Fire surprised emergency crews and Tracy residents
TRACY -- June marked the beginning of fire season in a very real way as a huge grass fire ignited on Saturday afternoon in a field near the Lawrence Livermore Laboratories. It roared over the Altamont Hills toward the city of Tracy and, by the time it was contained on Sunday, it had burned about 14,000 acres to become the state's largest wildland fire of the year.
"Altamont Pass is known as a windy place, anyway but what we were experiencing last night was much worse than the norm out here," said Cal Fire Battalion Chief Josh Silveira. "We were looking at sustained winds in the high 30s, low 40s, gusting into the 60s. Making it difficult to even stand -- just stand there -- let alone trying to engage and fight fire. Firefighters were met with conditions where the fire was just outrunning them."
READ MORE: Corral Fire burns 14,000 acres near Tracy
In fact, two firefighters suffered burn injuries when the erratic winds changed direction, pushing the flames back at them. They were transported to Bay Area hospitals with minor and moderate burns. SIlveira said both are expected to recover.
"Watching the grass burn like that was impressive," he said. "It made sounds that you typically only hear in brush and timber. It was a very rapidly moving and evolving fire."
Adolfo Inguanzo owns property in the Tracy suburbs that he allowed firefighters to use as a base camp. It's about five miles from Interstate 580, which they were hoping would act as a natural fire break.
"We started checking that it is across the 580," Inguanzo said. "And we just prayed for the best, at that point, right? ... Most of it is just praying that nothing would jump on this side."
It worked. The flames stopped at 580, preventing a run into the town of Tracy but, on the fire's side of the highway, they weren't so lucky. One neighborhood off Vernalis Road became the focus of the battle, as firefighters struggled to protect the homes. The residents had all evacuated except Kirn Gill. He and his neighbor stayed behind as flames roared down off the hills and up behind the houses.
"Everything was getting lit on fire," Gill said. "It was intense. It was 200-foot flames, smoke everywhere. It was bad."
The fire burned right up to the backyards of most homes before dying off but one on Bernard Road was not so lucky. It was the only major structure lost in the blaze, along with a number of vehicles parked on the property. The heat coming off the burning house caused more problems for Gill, who lives just across the street.
"All of a sudden, we were getting embers landing on our property," he said. "So, I was just hosing that stuff down because the last thing we needed was to get everyone's house on fire.
Then the power cut out, killing his water well and he and his neighbor were forced to pull water from a swimming pool.
"We were just pailing water on the fire. We just took anything we had that could pail water -- buckets, cans -- whatever we could find," Gill said. "I feel like, if I wasn't here everything would have just burned down."
By noon Sunday, the flames were gone and I-580 was reopened to traffic. The fire ended as abruptly as it started but, as firefighters patrolled the area looking for hot spots, they saw it as a wake-up call.
"We've had smaller fires up and down the state -- couple hundred acres, here and there," said Chief Silveira. "But this is the first major incident where we're burning over a thousand acres and it's just a good reality check for us. You know, fire season is upon us."