The Contra Costa County Fire Protection District fought five vegetation fires across the county on Wednesday, July 15, including a wind-driven 47-acre blaze in Byron that kept crews on scene into the night.

The five fires came as PG&E's public safety power shutoff warning was already in effect for parts of Contra Costa County, with the utility citing high winds and dry conditions. All incident details were reported by Contra Costa News.

Byron fire: 47 acres in under an hour

Firefighters received multiple calls reporting smoke and flames near Byron Highway and Camino Diablo at 3:35 p.m. Crews arrived to find a 4-acre fire being pushed by wind. It jumped a fire line and grew to 6 acres, triggering a second-alarm response.

The fire was stopped at approximately 47 acres by 4:34 p.m. At 8:30 p.m., crews remained on scene handling mop-up and hot spots.

4-alarm fire near I-680 in Benicia

Earlier in the afternoon, Con Fire provided mutual aid on a 4-alarm vegetation fire at I-680 and North Bayshore Road in Benicia starting at 1:30 p.m. The California Highway Patrol issued a SIGALERT and blocked lanes of traffic as crews worked. Smoke was visible from Contra Costa County.

The Benicia Fire Department led the response with assistance from Suisun City, Vacaville, and Dixon fire departments. The fire was under control by 3:30 p.m.

Brush fire near Walnut Creek

The closest fire to Walnut Creek broke out at 5:18 p.m. at the State Route 242 on-ramp at South Concord Avenue in Concord, roughly five miles from downtown. The quarter-acre brush fire produced a large column of smoke but was quickly contained. Firefighters and CHP briefly shut down the on-ramp.

Two smaller fires also broke out: a sub-1-acre vegetation fire on the 4000 block of Foothill Drive in Pittsburg at 5:47 p.m., contained within 23 minutes, and a suspected cooking fire at Holy Road and Byron Highway in Byron at 8:07 p.m.

PG&E shutoff warning in effect

The fires burned on the same day PG&E warned approximately 7,800 customers across 10 Northern California counties to prepare for possible power shutoffs. PG&E spokesperson Tamar Sarkissian confirmed 70 customers in Contra Costa County received notifications.

Evan Duffey, PG&E's manager of forecasting and operations, told KQED the shutoff area was "a very targeted and small area" and that outages should be short-lived. Duffey told KQED that dry weather in March contributed to an earlier fire season. Wednesday marked the second time in about a month that PG&E issued safety shutoff warnings in 2026.

How to stay informed

Residents can register for emergency alerts through the Contra Costa Community Warning System at contracosta.ca.gov. PG&E customers can sign up for outage notifications at pgealerts.alerts.pge.com.

Con Fire's board approved a $1 million contract with PG&E on July 7 for aerial firefighting helicopter services during the 2026 fire season.