Fire officials across the Bay Area remained on high alert Sunday after battling more than 200 fires on the Fourth of July — almost all ignited by illegal fireworks — that threatened multiple homes and buildings and injured a father and his child.
Firefighters were spread so thin overnight — fielding dozens of calls in a single hour — that many dispatched only one fire engine to the scene of each blaze during the height of the rush. It was the culmination of nearly a month of illegal fireworks activity across the Bay Area, officials said.
The wild holiday weekend, amplified against a backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic and widespread civil unrest, included a 6-acre blaze in San Francisco’s Bayview District, where the fire was contained before it reached a series of motor homes. In the East Bay, a major fire burned in Oak Hills Park in Pittsburg, threatening homes nearby.
Firefighters in Contra Costa County responded to roughly 100 fires overnight, with the volume of calls peaking between 9 p.m. and 11 p.m., officials said.
“For whatever reason, this year was among the worst that I’ve experienced with illegal fireworks,” said Capt. George Lang, a spokesman for the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District. “It was bad not just yesterday. It’s been bad for the previous month.”
The district extinguished nearly 70 fires between 7 p.m. Saturday and midnight Sunday, including 10 structure fires and 27 vegetation fires. At least 16 were sparked by fireworks, which are illegal in Contra Costa, the district said. Two homes were damaged in Antioch but no homes were destroyed.
Between 7 pm & midnight, Con Fire responded to 67 fires, with the peak in the 9 pm hour when crews responded to 30. In all, 10 structure, 27 veg & other exterior fires. 16 fireworks caused. In spite of dozens of structures threatened, not a single home was lost. #confiresafe4th pic.twitter.com/xd7CmpTKPt
— Con Fire PIO (@ContraCostaFire) July 5, 2020
Meanwhile, the East Contra Costa Fire Protection District responded to 29 fires late Saturday, all of which were fireworks-related, said fire marshal and PIO Steve Aubert.
A father and his 4-year-old daughter were burned by firework debris, he said.
Firefighters issued citations and warnings and confiscated some fireworks but were significantly outnumbered, Aubert said. The district has only three stations responsible for protecting a 250-square-mile region.
Their evening started off with a 2-acre grass fire on Holland Tract in Brentwood.
5:05pm ECCFPD units are on scene of a 2+ acre grass fire on Holland Tract. The fire was reportedly started by fireworks. Fire resources are limited and conditions are windy so please don’t play with fireworks. pic.twitter.com/f56bKO26sn
— ECCFPD (@ECCFPD) July 5, 2020
“That was the kickoff of our night yesterday. After that, it was just one after another after another,” said Aubert.
In Santa Clara County, a brush fire that started late Saturday burned 343 acres east of Morgan Hill and forced evacuations near Anderson Lake County Park, according to Cal Fire officials. The blaze was 50% contained by mid-day Sunday.
A spokeswoman for San Jose Fire said Sunday the agency did not have an estimate of how many fires it responded to on the Fourth of July.
Advanced planning and expert real-time action allowed the San Francisco Fire Department to contain 110 fires — all but two from illegal fireworks — between 3 p.m. Saturday and 3 a.m. Sunday with limited injuries and property damage, according to officials.
Large fires were quashed at McLaren Park, Dolores Park and Little Hollywood Park, and the scene could have been even worse if not for the prep and cooperation of the city’s fire, police and sheriff’s departments.
In addition to law enforcement and firefighters, 911 dispatch, 311 and San Francisco Public Works joined a 114-person team that started planning more than a month ago. Police officers began handing out firework safety material and miniature first-aid kits to large groups as early as 8 a.m. Saturday, and the fully staffed fire department was supplemented by 25 additional firefighters from outside the region who roved the city as the SFFD responded to emergency calls.
“These individuals volunteered to come into work on the Fourth of July, away from their families,” said Lt. Jonathan Baxter, public information officer at the San Francisco Fire Department. “As you can see from our numbers, they worked aggressively and professionally to make sure that San Franciscans were safe.”
Baxter said there were isolated incidents where people shot bottle rockets at firefighters and threw M-80 explosives at fire vehicles, but there were also heartfelt moments on a night when the sky was lit up brighter and longer than years with the city-sanctioned fireworks show along the Embarcadero.
During his Saturday shift, Baxter was approached by a war veteran who had been trying to ease his cats’ anxiety during the earsplitting booms. The man came out of his house to offer Baxter a granola bar and Gatorade.
“That was just one person out of hundreds of thousands in San Francisco, and we’re hoping we were able to have that impact on multiple individuals,” Baxter said. “Being outside with the boots on the ground, we have a job to do, and that is to ensure the safety of the public.
“Most of the time we do that without a cognitive notion of the hazards around us. Afterward, you start to think: ‘Wow, that M-80 was really close over my head. That bottle rocket hit my car and bounced off. What is my window was rolled down?’”
Tatiana Sanchez and Rusty Simmons are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: Tatiana.Sanchez@sfchronicle.com or rsimmons@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @tatianaysanchez or @rusty_sfchron.
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Hundreds of 4th of July fires in Bay Area, many from illegal fireworks - San Francisco Chronicle
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