The first heat wave of the year arrives today on the heels of two fires that have degraded air quality throughout South San Joaquin County.

The Corral Fire that started Saturday at 2:37 p.m. on the southeast edge of the Livermore Lab Site 300 on Corral Hollow Road near Tracy was 75 percent contained Monday. It has burned 14,168 acres.

Just over 36 hours later, an agricultural facility on French Camp Road near East Highway 120 midway between Manteca and Escalon caught on fire around 2 a.m. Monday.

Winds swept smoke from both fires  throughout the South County.

The Corral Fire, due to shifts in winds Saturday night, ended up coating cars in parts of rural south Manteca near the confluence of the Stanislaus and San Joaquin rivers.

Residents of the San Joaquin River Club — a community of more than 200 homes just northwest of the Airport Way bridge — spent Sunday morning cleaning ash off their vehicles.

Manteca Fire Department initially Saturday sent an engine company to cover a Tracy Fire station while personnel were fighting the Corral fire.

Eventually that crew — along with a second Manteca  engine company — were assigned to help protect structures before being released.

When the Ripon Fire broke out, a Manteca engine was dispatched to the scene along with firefighters from neighboring jurisdictions to battle the stubborn agricultural facility fire in the northeast portion of the Ripon Consolidated Fire District.

A second unit was stationed at the main Ripon Fire station to respond to calls in Ripon on Monday.

Manteca Fire Chief Dave Marques noted firefighters were called back for overtime to man two of the five Manteca stations.

State fire experts have been warning since March that this fire season could be more devasting than normal in the lower elevations such as the Central Valley.

That’s because a wetter-than-normal spring has resulted in denser and more robust weed growth.

Cal Fire indicated much of the area that has been burning has thick 4-foot high weed growth that had been dried out as temperatures heated up. Strong winds — that included gusts in excess of 20 mph —exacerbated the situation.

Marques noted Manteca firefighters have been busy for the past two weeks or so with brush fires along the 120 Bypass as well as in areas where there are thick weeds.

“People have a misconception that wildland fires happen only in remote areas,” Marques.

The Manteca Fire Chief noted no one expected Santa Rosa to burn in October 2017.

That is when a grass fire, similar to the current Corral incident, burned through that city.

Overall, 5,643 structures were destroyed in the Tubbs Fire of which more than half were homes in the City of Santa Rosa.

It destroyed five percent of the city’s housing stock at an estimated loss in 2017 of $1.2 billion.

Marques noted if the Corral Fire had started just a little further to the north, homes in the City of Tracy could have been in its path.

 Manteca every year has fences and structures that burn due to weeds catching on fore.

The department has been issuing citation for weeds.

Homes have been lost in the area due to brush fires. And the conditions are such that there is a strong possibility there could be losses again this year if properties aren’t abated of weeds.

 A grass fire along Interstate 5 in 2019 fueled a fire that led to 36 homes in a north Stockton neighborhood being destroyed when winds quickly spread the flames.

Three homes were lost west of Manteca three years ago due to a grass fire.

Twenty-five years ago, smoke from a grass fire in the southeast quadrant of the 120 Bypass and Highway 99 interchange caused a northbound driver on Highway 99 to drive off the freeway toward the fire.

An elderly passenger died of smoke inhalation.

Corral Fire is state’s largest

wildfire so far this year

The Corral Fire is the largest of more than 1,200 California wildfires so far this year.

The Corral Fire was 75% contained after scorching more than 22 square miles during the weekend. One home was destroyed and two firefighters were injured.

 Thousands of people in the area, including parts of the City of Tracy, were ordered to leave for evacuation centers Saturday. Evacuation orders were lifted when improved weather allowed firefighters to make progress against the flames.

California has had back-to-back wet years that ended drought but spawned vegetation growth. Cal Fire's outlook for 2024 noted that increasing dryness from mid-May to June would potentially lead to more small fires and a chance of larger fires depending on wind.  

A City of Manteca ordinance governs property owners’ responsibility to control weeds or other growth on their property to reduce fire hazards.

The Manteca Fire Prevention Bureau is responsible for administering the program.

 If a violation exists, the property owner will receive a written notice of violation requesting the property owner to cut the weeds or vegetation within 30 days of the written notice.

If the property owner fails to comply within the given time, the City will then proceed to hire an independent contractor to mow the property.

The owner will be responsible for the cost of the contractor’s work.

In addition to the abatement costs, the property owner will also receive a municipal infraction citation with a mandatory penalty of $100 for the first offense, $200 for the second offense, and $500 for each subsequent offense.

Manteca’s weed

abatement rules

 Specifically, the following standards apply within Manteca’s city limits:

• Property of 1/2 acre or more: Mow all vegetation to a maximum of 4 to 6 inches in height. Remove all grass, weeds or debris from the property. Disc or till the entire property. (In the process of abating property, keep dust production to a minimum to ensure compliance with Manteca Municipal Code Section 8.17 - Prevention of airborne sand, soil or dust traveling to neighboring properties in visible amounts.)

• Property of 1/2 acre or less: Mow all vegetation to a maximum of 4 to 6 inches in height. Rake and remove all dry grass.

• Trees and shrubs: All dead trees, shrubs and bushes must be cut down and removed from the property. Prunings must also be removed from the property.

• Alleys: Mow all grass and/or weeds to a maximum of 4 to 6 inches in height. Fence lines must be clean and free of weeds. Any and all combustibles must be removed. This includes, but is not limited to trash, rubbish, dry grass, prunings, clippings, auto parts and furniture. Property owners are responsible for the maintenance of the alley from the property line to the center of the alley.

• All properties: All weeds, rubbish, excess dirt, trash, dry vegetation, discarded furniture, appliances, garbage, auto parts or other material which constitutes a public nuisance, must be abated from the property fence line to fence line.

If you have questions about the Weed Abatement Program or want to report a property that is not being maintained, call the Fire Prevention Bureau at (209) 456-8340

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com