North Bay Fire A 'Wake-Up Call,' Firefighters Say

COTATI, CA — Firefighters from three departments teamed up to put out a grass fire Sunday afternoon that burned about two acres alongside U.S. Highway 101, a Sonoma County Fire battalion chief said.

Firefighters were called about 1:55 p.m. Sunday to a field off 101 near the West Sierra Avenue interchange. Battalion Chief Mike Elson said it was a stubborn fire, which required 25 firefighters, and the help of about a dozen water drops from a helicopter to control it. It was declared out at about 6:30 p.m.

There were no injuries, Elson said, and no structures were threatened. The cause is under investigation; part of that, Elson said, will be determining whether someone in a nearby homeless encampment may have started the blaze.

There had been a grass fire earlier Sunday in the same general area off Highway 101 in Cotati, Elson said. And the later blaze, he said, came despite much of the vegetation still being green, and not having yet turned brown.

"It was sort of a wake-up call for Sonoma County firefighters," he said.

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