Two small fires began Sunday afternoon on either side of Highway 24 near Lafayette in Contra Costa County, and county fire officials say the fires are "rapidly expanding" in the current winds.
Evacuations have been called for the area south of Old Tunnel Road, and near Camino Diablo and Springbrook Road in Lafayette. As NBC Bay Area reports, officials say that the forward progress of the fires was halted around 3 p.m., and possibly three homes were burned along with seven acres of land.
ABC 7 reports that the Lafayette Tennis Club was completely destroyed by fire.
#BREAKING: More fires in the Bay Area. This time near Hwy. 24, which has prompted evacuations in Lafayette. https://t.co/oYkkfP7KP1
— Kristofer Noceda (@krisnoceda) October 27, 2019
Video: @davekao1 pic.twitter.com/a6IR3NHv5g
#BREAKING: New vegetation fire prompting residents to self-evacuate in Lafayette https://t.co/wOvj0D9TET
— KTVU (@KTVU) October 27, 2019
In addition to the Sky Fire in Crockett, which seemed to have been sparked by the Glencove Fire across the Carquinez Strait earlier today, another small fire broke out in Contra Costa County near Oakley.
Cal Fire and the county fire department are being praised for their swift action in halting the Lafayette fires.
fire in #lafayette looking under control now.
— cje (@caseyjohnellis) October 27, 2019
MASSIVE props to @calfire et al who were on the scene with a jet tanker and a heli waterbomber within literally 10 minutes...
this would have gone differently without that. pic.twitter.com/wioVTr8tPW
LAFAYETTE Fire forward progress has been stopped along HWY-24. This is what you may have seen today but @ContraCostaFire & allied agencies are doing a great great to stop the fire progress. No closures expected but traffic is a bit slow still. Drive Safely. pic.twitter.com/nP5TfPqdas
— CHP - Contra Costa (@320PIO) October 27, 2019
