Hot temperatures fuel fires across the Central Coast

Record-breaking heat and breezy conditions fueled fires across the Central Coast and kept firefighters busy Tuesday.

Afire started around 6 p.m. off Boronda Road near Constitution Road in Salinas.

“When the first resources arrived, they had 25 to 30-foot flame lengths that were actually going up over the tops of homes,” said Brett Loomis with the Salinas Fire Department.

It took eight engines to knock the fire out. The flames burned about four acres.

“A couple of the wood fences were damaged by fire. At one point there were actually burning embers that were falling down in a neighborhood,” said Loomis.

Crews were also called to another fire around the same time off Highway 101 and Highway 156 just outside of Gilroy.

“After our investigation, it appears that there was some debris that came from possibly a large semi-truck tire that was on fire and came off the truck and landed in the side of the road in the dry grass and that’s how it started,” said Dennis King with Cal Fire.

The fire off Highway 101 burned about eight acres.

Although the fires were relatively small, firefighters say it is always difficult to fight the fires during a heat wave.

“When you get the temperatures up in the 90s or higher, it really becomes a challenge for (firefighters). They sweat a lot, they have to re-hydrate — if we don’t watch that we can get a heat illness injury very easily,” said King.

Cal Fire crews have responded to more than 5,000 fires this year.

Firefighters ask people to be safe and careful when the weather heats up.