Vallejo firefighters ‘mopping up’ three fires Thursday

Vallejo firefighters were busy Thursday extinguishing three fires that included a five-alarm blaze than burned 40 acres on Mare Island. Fire engineer Kevin Brown said the five-alarm fire on Mare Island was mostly contained Thursday evening.

Brown said:

“They’ll be mopping up all night.” 

It started at about 11:30 a.m. and burned adjacent to a 10-acre fire on Mare Island that started early Wednesday morning.

Crews have not determined yet whether Thursday’s fire was a flare up from the Wednesday morning fire or a new fire.

Flames burned a fence outside a historic Navy cemetery but caused no damage to the cemetery.

The only structures threatened were abandoned Navy storage buildings, Brown said.

No evacuation orders were issued but students and staff at Touro University voluntarily left because of smoke in the area, Brown said. Wind gusts of up to 40 mph caused the fire to jump three roads, he said.

A separate three-alarm grass fire started at about 1:30 p.m. off of Henry Street and was 100 percent contained Thursday evening. The fire burned three acres.

Later in the day, crews contained a two-acre vegetation fire that started at a homeless encampment near Wilson Avenue and state Highway 37, Brown said.