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Evacuees Return Home After Narrowly Escaping 500+ Acre Brush Fire In Antioch

ANTIOCH (CBS SF) -- Neighbors are relieved to return home Thursday after firefighters contained a massive brush fire that backed right up to their houses near Contra Loma Regional Park.

"God bless the firefighters," resident Jennifer Newton said. "They saved us."

Newton unpacked her car Thursday morning after frantically evacuating her home on Grimsby Drive last night.

"Got the paintings and the dogs and the cats and headed for my daughter's house in Brentwood," she said.

The fire started at 4 p.m. Wednesday, raging near the Contra Loma Regional Park. Over 100 homes were evacuated, and Delta winds made the fire that burned 533 acres unpredictable.

"So you think the fire's going one direction and then it switches with the wind and goes another," said Lisa Martinez with the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District.

The hilly terrain made communication difficult for firefighters from three separate agencies.

"So you have challenges in ordering retardant drops and attacks in certain areas because you might hit that dead spot," Martinez said.

Firefighters are patroling the area Thursday, putting out hot spots like a burnt tree, to make sure nothing rekindles.

It's a reminder of how the drought has made California tinder dry.

Aggressive weed abatement program in Contra Costa County remind residents to clear debris from yards.

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