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Trio Of Fires Send Smoke Over Bay Area

SUISUN CITY (CBS SF) - Three wind-fueled fires burning in the North Bay Friday sent thick clouds of smoke across most of the Bay Area. The largest fire was burning near Suisun City, with another burning in Bencia and a third near Rohnert Park.

The hot, dry windy conditions have triggered red flag warnings in the area.

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District issued a smoke advisory warning Bay Area residents, especially those with asthma and other respiratory issues, to stay inside with the windows and doors closed as much as possible.

Here is a look at the three fires:

Suisun City

A grass fire that burned more than 1,000 acres in Solano County Friday afternoon is 70 percent contained and has largely been pushed away from inhabited areas, a fire official said Friday evening.

The fire, which started south of state Highway 12 near Branscombe Road in Suisun City around 12:45 p.m., destroyed a barn full of hay and around a dozen pieces of farm equipment, according to Dixon Fire Chief Aaron McAlister.

It initially threatened another five to 10 structures, but that threat has now been eliminated, McAlister said.

Two employees at the Goodrich Corp. in Suisun City also suffered smoke inhalation injuries in the fire, McAlister said. One was treated at the scene and released and the other was taken to a hospital.

At this point, the fire is largely controlled in inhabited areas, but around 40 acres continue to burn in marshy, uninhabited areas to the south that are largely inaccessible to firefighters, McAlister said.

All evacuations have been lifted and Grizzly Island Road has been reopened.

Full containment is not expected before Saturday, and firefighters will remain on the scene Friday night, McAlister said.

Benicia

A two-alarm vegetation fire shut down an eastbound Interstate Highway 780 off-ramp in Benicia Friday afternoon, according to the California Highway Patrol and fire officials.

The grass fire near the highway and East Fifth Street was reported just before 3 p.m., a Benicia fire dispatcher said.

The dispatcher said some nearby buildings are threatened by the flames but no evacuations have been ordered.

The blaze prompted the California Highway Patrol to shut down the East Fifth Street off-ramp from eastbound Highway 780 at about 3 p.m.

Rohnert Park

Cal Fire and local fire crews from Sonoma County were fighting a 130-acre vegetation fire on Petaluma Hill Road near Sonoma State University in Rohnert Park.

The blaze was reported around 12:45 p.m. near Laurel Drive between East Cotati Avenue and Rohnert Park Expressway in unincorporated Sonoma County east of Rohnert Park.

Cal Fire spokeswoman Emily Smith said the fire in grass and oak woodland is approximately 50 percent contained.

(Copyright 2013 by CBS San Francisco and Bay City News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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