People called 911 to report the fire – which started as at least two fires – just before 2:30 p.m., according to Jonathan Cox, Deputy Chief of Staff for San Mateo Cal Cal. Firefighters were able to contain the smaller Colton Fire after it had gnawed several acres so it would not be a threat later in the afternoon, Cox said. The larger Edgewood Fire proved to be more difficult to extinguish and was reduced by 5% when dusk fell at 8:30 p.m. Shortly after 8 p.m., officials announced that all evacuation orders had been downgraded to warnings and evacuation warnings issued earlier in the day had been lifted. “They are narrow, narrow roads and a lot of real estate is mixed with a lot of vegetation,” Cox told reporters outside the Woodside fire station. As smoke billowed over the dry coniferous slopes in the afternoon, Cal Fire San Mateo-Santa Cruz officials urged motorists and bystanders to avoid the area near Edgewood Road and Crestview Drive, where the fire had started. fire. For hours, the blaze spread north to a corner bordered by Woodside, Redwood City, and Edgewood Park and Natural Preserve. In a tweet, San Mateo County Sheriff warned of a “rapid fire on the grass” and ordered people to evacuate during the day a zone around Maple Street, which borders the lake on the northeast side, the golf course to the south and the shelter, which intersects with hiking trails, to the west. The sheriff also advised residents to evacuate the area between the Emerald Hills neighborhood and Interstate 280. Fast moving grass fire. If you live in the red zone, you must evacuate. If you live in the yellow zone, it is recommended that you evacuate at this time. The evacuation / reunion location is Cañada College Theater pic.twitter.com/FXGQR7u9GE – San Mateo County SO (@SMCSheriff) June 21, 2022 Firefighters are responding to a fire on Edgewood Road and Crestview Drive in San Mateo County. Avoid the area and watch out for emergency vehicles on the road. pic.twitter.com/EqkT03malB – CAL FIRE CZU (@CALFIRECZU) June 21, 2022 An evacuation center was set up at 1455 Madison Street in Redwood City, along with a large animal parking lot in Cañada College car park. By early night, 1,133 homes had been ordered to be evacuated, though those orders were reduced to pre-night warnings. “We have a lot of resources on stage and a lot of resources that are still responding,” Cal Fire CZU battalion leader Ethan Petersen told reporters late Tuesday afternoon. He noted that helicopters extinguished the flames with a retarder. The persistent heat was likely to force firefighters to continue battling the fire at Edgewood overnight “until we can contain it,” Cox said. Although no residents were reported injured, a firefighter was injured on the line and taken to hospital. No construction was damaged until late in the afternoon, but many were in danger, including a PG&E substation on Cañada Street. “We are seeing fire behavior that is weeks earlier than we normally are,” Cox said in mid-June, pointing to “volatile weather” with dry air, offshore winds and apparent absence of fog. Smoke covering the nearby I-280 prevented drivers from being seen. While the highway remained open, it was drowned out of traffic and the ramps to Edgewood and Jefferson closed at 5:30 p.m., said San Mateo County Sheriff’s spokesman Javier Acosta. Stanford University campus and other parts of San Mateo County have lost their power. but it was not immediately clear if the holiday was fire-related. San Mateo College also lost power on Tuesday, forcing the campus to close and cancel all in-person classes. Officials wrote on Twitter that the school would reopen on Wednesday. The Edgewood fire came on the first day of a vicious summer, with temperatures plummeting to hundreds in parts of the bay area and forecast for dry storms on Wednesday and Thursday. The extreme heat, the dry landscape and the humidity of the monsoons that flow from the southeast caused multiple advices from the National Meteorological Service.
This is a story that is evolving and will be updated. Rachel Swan is a staff writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @rachelswan
