Fire Near Lake Herman Road Contained to 124 Acres

Fire fighters battled a grassfire on the northern edges of Benicia yesterday afternoon and into the evening declaring full containment at 10:30 p.m., Tuesday, June 18. 

The fire charred 124 acres, of grassland and fields between California Court and Lake Herman Road.   This is somewhat less than the original 142-acre estimate firefighters made late Tuesday afternoon.

 The fire was first reported at 2:15 p.m.   Driven by high winds and fed with dry fuel, the fire spread quickly prompting a second, then a third and finally a fourth alarm.  Fire fighters from Fairfield, Vallejo, Vacaville and the Valero Refinery were all involved in fighting the blaze.  Agencies from as near as Contra Costa County and as far as Marin and Napa were also on hand. 

CalFire personnel were also fighting the fire on the ground and from the air.

Incident commander Josh Chadwick, an acting Division Chief in the Benicia Fire Department was grateful for the help.

“What’s really stressful is needing the assets and not having them,” said Chadwick the morning after the fire.  “That was the case for the first 45 minutes of the fire.”

Fire personnel from Benicia and Vallejo routinely help each other with station coverage when a fire is burning in either city as part of the county-wide mutual aid agreement.  However, when fire trucks and personnel from other Solano County cities are called, response times are longer.

“Part of that has to do with us being so far south in the county,” said Chadwick.  “It takes a while.”

Chadwick declined to speculate about the origins of the fire saying an investigator from CalFire will aid in assessing evidence.

CalFire was called in to help fight the fire because it threatened to cross Lake Herman Road.  The grasslands and hills north of Lake Herman Road are a state area of responsibility said Chadwick.

No one was injured in the blaze that forced the closure of Reservoir Road and Lake Herman Road.