Sacramento area had dozens of fires on Fourth of July. Fireworks weren’t the only cause
Dozens of fires were started on Fourth of July in the Sacramento area, some caused by the obligatory fireworks that celebrate the nation’s independence and others from less explosive sources.
The Sacramento Fire Department received 252 calls for service this year and responded to 12 structure fires, 31 grass fires and 53 miscellaneous fires in cars, large trash bins or elsewhere.
While fireworks continued popping overhead, firefighters worked through the night to extinguish the blazes. One house in the 8500 block of Sunnybrae Drive in Valley Hi/North Laguna sustained significant damages when its garage caught on fire. Multiple fires burned in a large field in Meadowview near the 7900 block of Tantura Way after fireworks sparked the dry grass.
“And so it begins,” the department wrote on social media. “Just to recap earlier messages, illegal fireworks start fires.”
The Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District, which operates outside Sacramento city limits, also fought off many fires overnight. Early estimates from Metro Fire indicated at least 12 structure fires and 16 grass fires.
One house on Pepitone Court in south Sacramento was burning from the inside near the garage when firefighters arrived. Fire response crews were forced to cut open the garage doors in order to put out the blaze.
Another house on Oak Vista Drive in Carmichael was destroyed after legal fireworks that hadn’t been properly extinguished by the side of the house caught fire, according to Metro Fire. A video taken by firefighters showed the house fully engulfed in flames before midnight.
The Folsom Fire Department and other agencies were sent out to Golf Links Drive near the intersection of East Natoma Street after minors playing with fireworks in a grassy plain ignited the vegetation. The fire spread along the dry grass and grew to about one acre. Firefighters contained the blaze in minutes and spent several hours mopping up.
Fireworks weren’t the only culprits Saturday night. One fire, fought by Folsom firefighters, was determined to have been started by a barbecue.
The second story of a 4,000-square-foot multifamily home on the 900 block of Figueroa Street caught fire, compromising the structural integrity of the building and causing a partial collapse of the roof.
Firefighters accounted for all residents and managed to contain the fire from spreading through the block. After two hours of work by 57 personnel, the fire was under control.
Although one police officer was taken to a hospital for smoke inhalation and a firefighter was evaluated for heat exhaustion, no civilians were injured.
This story was originally published July 5, 2020 at 3:30 PM.
