Calfire crews and local firefighters stopped the forward spread of a vegetation fire on Altamont Pass Road on Sunday afternoon after it grew quickly in dry, windy conditions east of Livermore. The fire, which CAL FIRE called the Pass Fire, was about 30% contained by about 2 p.m.
Firefighters first responded just after noon to the blaze, which had scorched less than 5 acres when they arrived about 7.5 miles northeast of Livermore. By 1:30 p.m., it had burned about 80 acres, but crews said they had stopped its forward progress. California Highway Patrol said Altamont Pass Road was closed between Carroll and Grant Line Road as firefighting continued.
A CAL FIRE helicopter joined ground crews from the Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Department in the response. Firefighters were expected to spend the rest of the day strengthening containment lines and putting out hot spots as conditions remained hazardous. A Red Flag Warning issued by the National Weather Service was in effect Saturday through Monday, bringing low humidity and high winds of 20 to 30 mph across the region.
The fire broke out on Altamont Pass Road, a mountainous east-west route that runs just north of Interstate 580 and has long been vulnerable when strong winds line up with dry grass. That threat also prompted PG&E to warn of potential Public Safety Power Shutoffs, and some customers near the fire were already without electricity because of preemptive shutoffs. Outages also hit customers north of the fire across the Contra Costa County line, farther east south of Tracy, and in parts of Solano County and eastern Napa County.
The early stop to the fire's spread suggests crews got to it before it could run much farther in the wind, but the rest of Sunday still mattered. With dry air, gusty conditions and power shutoffs continuing until local weather changes, firefighters had to hold the line long enough to keep a small grass fire from turning into something larger.
