Brush Fires Under Control
Daily Review, Sept. 17, 1965
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By Tom Harris
Flames from a wind-whipped grass and brush fire, skirling the eastern fringes of Castro Valley, threatened to destroy a dozen or more expensive homes along Crow Canyon and Jensen roads today before firemen and borate bombers won the battle against the stubborn blaze.
The brush fire climaxed a hectic 12-hour outbreak of fires in the Hayward and Castro Valley areas that started about 10 p.m. last night with near-simultaneous fires in the Tennyson district and in Russell City.
None of the blazes caused any injuries or destroyed any valuable structures, although the wind-driven Russell City flames gutted about 16 abandoned homes between Mississippi and Louisiana streets.
A carelessly-tossed cigarette, according to county fire afficials, ignited the brush fire along the base of Crow Canyon Road about three miles east of Greenridge Road and 20-30 mile-an-hour winds sent flames sweeping up the steep hills.
Hundreds of acres of grazing land on the crest of the ridge south of Crow Canyon Road were blackened and flames licked at dry brush within a few yards of homes worth $30,000 to $50,000.
Residents were wetting down their roofs and yards to keep flying sparks from spreading the fire and at least one family evacuated its home when the flames swept up a dry swale and threatened their home.
Two borate bombers from the State Forestry Service knocked out the hottest spots of the fire after Alameda County Fire Patrol units had contained it along a three-mile stretch between Jensen and Crow Canyon Roads.
The 60-mile-an-hour gusts of Iast night's destructive wind storm also threatened to spread both the Russell Cily and Tennyson blazes to surrounding areas.
Alameda County sheriff deputies said the Russell City blaze leveled a three- or four-block section of the redevelopment project and threatened several times to jump across streets to the few remaining occupied homes in the area.
County fire patrol units had the last flames out by 3 a.m. today.
At same time Tennyson Fire Protection Dist. crews, aided by Hayward and county tankers and Civil Defense units, were battling to prevent a cascade of hot flames and sparks from a barn fire spread to at least three nearby homes.
The barn, owned by John Cerato, 29342 Taylor Ave., and more than $1,000 worth of carpentry and plumbing tools were destroyed, along with a dozen or more pigeons and chickens Cerato raised.
Neighbors awoke to see flames leaping into the air as they fed on dry hay stored in the old structure.
Fire Chief Hugh Rhodes of the volunteer Tennyson unit said today he wasn't sure of what triggered the fire, which also gutted several small sheds, but suspected sparks from a downed power line.
A 1,000-gallon tanker from the county and three pumper trucks from the Hayward Fire Dept. assisted 12 volunteers In the fire fighting.
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