Marsh Fire Grows To Over 1,775 Acres; Advancing Flames Prompt New Evacuations
SUNOL (CBS SF) -- The out-of-control Marsh Fire in Alameda and Santa Clara counties continued to advance Monday, triggering additional evacuations for people living in Sunol.
The Alameda County Fire Department Monday afternoon ordered mandatory evacuations of all residents of the Kilkare Canyon because of advancing flames. Shortly after, the evacuation order was downgraded to an evacuation warning. The sheriff's office said a shelter was being established for the evacuees at the Residence Inn located at 5200 Wolf House Rd. in Livermore.
Another evacuation warning was issued in Fremont for all residents from 9000 Mill Creek Road to 196 Mill Creek Road due to approaching fire danger, according to Fremont police and fire departments.
In addition, the East Bay Regional Park District Police said Pleasanton Ridge Regional Park was being evacuated as a precaution because of the fire. In the area, Round Valley Regional Preserve, Morgan Territory Regional Preserve, Sunol Wilderness Regional Preserve, and Mission Peak Regional Preserve were closed to public access and would reopen when declared safe.
Previously, the fires forced the evacuation of about 10 homes along Welch Creek Road, located about four miles southeast of Sunol and one mile north of the Little Yosemite Trail area.
The Marsh Fire has grown to more than 1,775 acres as flames roared through with tinder-dry brush. Cal Fire reported early Monday that the fire had doubled in size overnight and has continued to grow with zero containment.
Firefighters tried to take advantage of calm, humid overnight conditions to slow the advancing wall of flames. Crews manning bulldozers worked in the pre-dawn darkness, building containment lines, but the fire continued to rage.
People who live in the area remained on edge, hoping additional evacuations would not be needed.
"We're trying (to halt the blaze) at the end of Welch Creek back into the Reservoir," said Assistant Fire Chief Nick Luby for Oakland Fire Department said Sunday night. "That will happen in the morning."
Firefighters were trying to figure out the best way to contain the three fires that make up the Marsh Fire complex. The fires started sometime between 4:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. on Sunday, probably due to lightning strikes.
"We saw lightning hit the hills and light it on fire, like immediately," said Sunol resident Genevieve Banducci, who was up early Sunday driving to work from her house in Sunol when she saw bright flashes of lightning.
"We saw fires in the high, high hills and there's only one way it would get there," Banducci added. "There's no roads that go up there. It had to be the lightning that struck and then there's just fires everywhere."
The fires were burning in rugged and remote areas high in the hills, which makes firefighting more difficult.
"We have a lot of dozers coming in and assisting and just have to use a lot of handlines," said Brian Centoni of the Alameda County Fire Department. "This is a very rural area with very steep terrain."
Another issue was getting enough crews on site to fight the flames. The Red Flag Warning issued Saturday ahead of the storms allowed local fire departments to pre-position additional crews, but they're still spread thin due to more than 10 brush fires that popped up Sunday morning in Alameda County alone.
"We did staff some extra firefighters and apparatus, so we were ready for this to happen. Obviously we didn't expect this to happen this fierce," Centoni said.
Cal Fire also continued early Monday to bring in additional resources from other areas of the state. Air support would also join the fight as soon as the aircraft had enough daylight to fly.