A fire burned approximately one acre of grass and scorched tree trunks on the east side of Interstate 680 in unincorporated Solano County Thursday afternoon, October 18.
Firefighters from the Cordelia Fire District and the Benicia Fire Department were on the scene and had the fire contained at 3:50 p.m. Benicia fire fighters were dispatched to the fire at 3:16 p.m.
There are no fire hydrants in the area where the fire was burning so water tenders (tanker trucks) from each fire department were on the scene supplying water to fire fighters.
Fire Captain Josh Chadwick of the Benicia fire department estimated firefighters would be on the scene until 5 p.m. and that the water tenders would have enough water to adequately fight the fire.
Fire fighters were spraying eucalyptus trees to keep them from igniting. Tires illegally discarded in the area complicated teh frie fighting efforts. Periodically a tire could be heard blowing up.
Traffic on I-680 backed up briefly as drivers approached the area of the fire.
Chief Jay Huyssoon of the Cordelia Fire District said there were nine fire fighters from Benicia and eight from Cordelia fighting the flames.
Smoke from the fire was visible from the Southampton neighborhood of Benicia.
Neither Chadwick or Huyssoon would speculate on what may have started the fire.
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