Amid booming fireworks, Modesto, Stanislaus County firefighters battle several blazes

As the booming sounds of fireworks penetrated neighborhoods throughout the Modesto area just after sunset Saturday night, firefighters from various agencies began furiously tending to several fires – both structure and grass.

At one point, Sean Slamon, chief of the Modesto Fire Department, said from the scene of house fire in east Modesto that his agency was “depleted” by two other fires at the same time.

From about 9 p.m. to midnight on a seemingly loud-than-usual Fourth of July, there were at least 15 fire incidents – and likely more – that had agencies from throughout Stanislaus County scrambling.

At one point, a dispatcher, upon being asked by an agency where to go next, replied: “Structure fires are pretty much everywhere.”

Among the worst was a two-alarm fire on Springfield Way in east Modesto that caused roughly $175,000 worth of damage. A two-alarm fire on Ash Avenue in Oakdale at about 11:30 p.m. also caused major damage.

Fire officials in the coming days will like confirm whether fireworks – illegal or otherwise – were the cause of the fires.

However, throughout the night, seemingly every other call into dispatch and sent out on police scanners involved a “report of illegal fireworks.”

When asked on The Bee’s Facebook page to describe what they were seeing and hearing in their neighborhoods, many respondents appeared frustrated about the booming sounds near their homes.

“Illegal fireworks all around my house ... no point calling it in,” responded one.

Said another: “People with no respect for their neighbors. ... lots of illegal fireworks. Feel bad for law enforcement and the firefighters.”

In Modesto, thundering booms were seemingly constant for three hours starting at about 9 p.m., and there were lingering pops and booms well after 1 a.m.

The calls of reported fires came from all points:

– Two grassfires in east Modesto – one near Claribel Road and Roselle Avenue and another on Terminal Avenue that threatened homes.

– A grassfire in Waterford that brought multiple agencies to the scene.

– A fire on Lillian Drive, neighboring Springfield Way, that broke out about the same time as the fire on Springfield.

– Two reported house fires in Ceres

– There were at least two other fires in Modesto and at least one each in Empire, Turlock and Patterson.

On Modesto’s Springfield Way, firefighters were called to the home just east of the Scenic Drive and Lakewood Avenue at about 10:50 p.m.

Eight engines and two trucks responded to the single-story home, whose residents were not there.

Slamon said crews were able to limit damage to the garage and attic while saving some valuables.

“Between Modesto, Stanislaus Consolidated and Ceres, almost all of our units are on working fires of some sort within the three agencies right now,” he said at the time.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

This story was originally published July 5, 2015 at 2:18 AM with the headline "Amid booming fireworks, Modesto, Stanislaus County firefighters battle several blazes."