A vegetation fire called the Pleasanton Fire burned about 150 acres in Sunol Valley on Tuesday afternoon and forced evacuation orders in several zones south of Pleasanton. Cal Fire SCU reported the Little Fire at about 2:54 p.m. near Little Valley Road and Hubbard Lane, with Cal Fire and Alameda County firefighters working to get a handle on it.
The fire was spreading at a moderate rate as of Tuesday afternoon, and the evacuation order covered zones ALC-072, PLS-080, PLS-081 and PLS-103. An evacuation warning was also issued for zones PLS-079 and PLS-082, putting more residents in Pleasanton and Sunol Valley on alert as the blaze moved through dry ground near the valley floor.
That response was underway while no containment information was available yet, and there were no immediate reports of damaged structures. The lack of containment is the hard edge of the story: the fire had already grown large enough to send people out, but crews were still trying to slow it before there was any clear sign of how far it might run.
The conditions add to the concern. Warm and humid weather tied to Tropical Storm Elida was affecting the Bay Area, giving the fire a weather backdrop that can complicate fire behavior even as officials work zone by zone. For now, the immediate question is not how the fire started; it is how quickly Cal Fire and Alameda County firefighters can pin it down and whether those evacuation orders can be reduced without another jump in size.
