Busy Afternoon For Contra Costa Firefighters; Brushfire Halted Near Downtown Martinez
MARTINEZ (CBS SF) -- A vegetation fire burned about 2 acres immediately adjacent to the Martinez Amtrak station Saturday afternoon, but it was contained before it could spread south to downtown businesses, the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District said.
The fire was reported about noon Saturday, said ConFire Capt. Joe Ottolini said.
The flames worked their way along Alhambra Creek and south a short distance to near Marina Vista Avenue. The fire burned the area between
the Amtrak station parking lot and the creek itself, going under a footbridge at John Sparacino Park.
There were no injuries or structures threatened, Ottolini said.
The cause of the fire was under investigation, but there is no apparent cause.
"We don't have much to go on yet," Ottolini said.
Elsewhere in Conta Costa County, firefighters were crediting landowners who made "defensible space" around buildings for possibly saving several homes just off state Highway 4 in Bay Point from burning.
The grass fire was reported about 3:25 p.m. Saturday in the 700 block of Dobrich Circle, about a half-mile east of the Bailey Road
interchange.
Ottolini said the fire threatened several homes, and might have spread to them had the vegetation around the buildings not been so effectively trimmed back.
"There was good defensible space set up around" the fire scene, he said. "That's what saved the structures. It made a real difference
for us."
No buildings were damaged, Ottolini said, and no one was injured.
The cause of the fire had not been determined by late Saturday afternoon.
