Stanislaus County team sent to fight fires in Calaveras County
A task force from Stanislaus County was sent to Calaveras County on Tuesday afternoon to fight a vegetation fire near Valley Springs that had spread to 350 acres as of 6 p.m.
Two engines from the Stanislaus Consolidated Fire Protection District originally were dispatched to the Pacheco Fire near Valley Springs that started at about 1:15 p.m.
A few hours later and about 25 miles south a second vegetation fire broke out near Copperopolis. It is the Stagecoach Fire.
A strike team composed of engines from the Modesto Fire Department, Burbank-Paradise Fire Protection District, Salida Fire Department and two more engines from Stanislaus Consolidated were sent to the Stagecoach Fire. But as the team was getting to Copperopolis, it was rerouted to the Pacheco Fire, which had grown from 20 to 230 acres in the first hour and had expanded to 350 acres a few hours later.
The Stagecoach Fire has burned about 30 acres Tuesday evening. Firefighters had stopped the forward spread, but there was no containment.
The Pacheco Fire started near the intersection of Milton Road and Lanford Pacheco Road. It also had no containment Tuesday evening.
As the strikes teams were leaving for Calaveras County, vegetation fires broke out along the Tuolumne River near John Thurman Field and in Keyes north of homes and an apartment complex on Anna Avenue.
The fire along the river was quickly extinguished but the fire in Keyes grew to about 4 acres and threatened homes and an apartment complex, which brought a large response from fire agencies around the county.
“It was definitely a draw-down on resources in the county,” said county Fire Warden Eric Holly.
But he said all calls for service, including medical calls, were responded to during that busy four-hour period. He said off-duty firefighters from Salida, Modesto and Stanislaus Consolidated were called to work to provide station coverage.
This story was originally published July 12, 2016 at 4:40 PM with the headline "Stanislaus County team sent to fight fires in Calaveras County."