Brush fire near Suisun City grows to 4,000 acres burned

A fast-moving brush fire burned at least 4,000 acres Sunday, east of Suisun City in Solano County. The fire was reported at about 10:45 a.m. off Highway 12 near Travis Air Force Base.

As a large plume of smoke billowed into the sky, homeowner Dana Lindstrom of Rio Vista said he was grateful that his home was upwind of the flames.

“I see some structures [downwind] that might be in the path of the fire and that’s really unfortunate,” Lindstrom said. Some structures did burn including an outbuilding on Scally Road off Highway 12. Fire officials couldn’t give an exact number of structures that had been damaged or destroyed.

As a result of the fire, the California Highway Patrol closed Highway 12 at Walters Road for several hours; it later reopened.

At least a half dozen local fire departments responded to the fire along with aircraft from the California Department of Forestry.

With a Red Flag warning in effect for the East Bay hills, fire officials said the dry brush and strong winds were the biggest challenges for firefighters.

“This fire could eventually go far enough to run into the Sacramento River,” said Dennis Rein of the Suisun City Fire Protection District. “The winds at the top of the ridges are 40 to 50 miles an hour and it’s been difficult to keep up with the fire spread.”