Updated: Firefighters Battle 3 Alarm Junkyard Fire in Oakley

On Tuesday, the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District firefighters responded to 3-alarm junkyard fire in the City of Oakley.

The incident, which first occurred around 5:40 pm at Main St. near Brownstone Road caused a giant cloud of smoke to be shot in the air which could be viewed from across Contra Costa County, was caused by several vehicles that had caught fire, which eventually spread to fences, vegetation and even destroyed at least two RV’s.

According to Tracie Dutter, assistant chief, of Contra Costa County Fire, she confirmed they responded to reports of multiple explosions at an auto dismantler (Pena Towing) which quickly became a 3-alarm fire response

“When we arrived on scene, we found multiple vehicles on fire and called for additional alarm. The fire extended into fencing and vegetation behind the auto dismantlers with homes in the area and threatened,” said Dutter. “we called for a third alarm for structure protection. They were able to protect the structure, but multiple vehicles caught fire and two RV’s, but were able to save the homes.”

As of Tuesday night, CONFIRE did not have a total of number of vehicles that caught fire with no injuries and no fatalities.

“In this fire, access was challenging. There was not immediate access behind the dismantlers and so our crews had to make their way around the block trying to make access behind homes where there was vegetation and by then we were really able to knock down the fire and get it under control,” explained Dutter.

The Oakley Police Department, who shut down the road while crews worked the incident, announced at 10:45 pm that the fire has been contained and Main Street between Delta and Bolton is now open.

Wednesday UPDATE

According to Dutter, the cause of the fire is undetermined but did appear to be accidental in nature. She explained it started in an area that housed lead acid vehicle batteries and was heavily damaged by fire.

In terms of damages, the total number of vehicles is difficult to determine at the auto dismantlers as they disassemble and sell parts of vehicles. There were many vehicle body’s and vehicle parts that were damaged on that property. There was also an open pole barn type structure that was also damaged by the fire. The adjacent property had 6 vehicles/RVs/Trailers damaged by the fire at an approximate loss of $100,000. There was also damage to the fence between the properties.

According to Dutter, there were other incidents during this active incident which may have had increased times due to the number of resources committed to the fire.

In total, crews were on scene for 5 hours and 15 minutes (5:57 pm to 11:02 pm)

UPDATE #2 – units on scene (note, not all were on scene the entire 5 hours)

 

Other recent fires:

• May 18 – Firefighters Battle 50 Acre Vegetation Fire in Brentwood
• May 9 – Firefighters Limit Brentwood Vegetation Fire to 10-Acres
• May 7 – Brentwood Planning Commission Denies Downtown Fire Station
• May 1 – Firefighters Battle 5 Acre Vegetation Fire in Brentwood