Firefighters battled blazes in Contra Costa, San Mateo, and Alameda counties Saturday, after containing several other fires that burned hundreds of acres in the Bay Area over the past several days.
Cal Fire’s incident map shows five “active fires of interest” around the state as of Saturday evening, three of which are burning in the counties that surround the San Francisco Bay.
The Scenic Fire, in Contra Costa County started as a brush fire on Thursday, and as of Saturday morning was 80% contained, after burning 120 acres. An evacuation warning was issued in Port Costa on Thursday when the fire burned dangerously close to homes, but authorities gave the “all-clear” for residents to return later that day.
Between Pleasanton and Sunol in Alameda County, the Canyon Fire is 70% contained as of Saturday evening and has burned 71 acres. This fire caused a few hundred homes to be evacuated Thursday but residents were allowed to return by that evening.
The Edgewood Fire, which has been burning in San Mateo County since early in the week, was 98% contained by the end of the week and has burned 20 acres, and also triggered evacuation warnings earlier this week.
Several other wildfires have burned around the Bay Area in the past few days. The Kirker Fire in Contra Costa County was 100% contained by Friday evening after burning 90 acres. The Tesla Fire, south of Livermore, started Thursday evening and burned over 500 acres but was 100% contained by Saturday morning.
Smoke has been visible in many parts of the Bay Area after hundreds of acres have burned in the past few days, but it is high ozone levels that have caused air quality to drop to yellow “moderate” levels in the East Bay on Saturday, with the Peninsula and North Bay in the “good” green air quality range. The forecast is looking yellower, with the entire Bay Area air quality district predicted to have moderately bad air quality Sunday.
Source: www.mercurynews.com