Firefighters on Friday extinguished a wind-whipped brush fire that burned close to some businesses next to Highway 4 in the Concord area.
The blaze scorched 20 acres of dry grass near Willow Pass Court before crews were able to stop its forward progress, according to the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District.
Footage from NBC Bay Area SkyRanger showed flames marching toward commercial buildings in the area, but firefighters were able to douse them before they could spread to the structures.
No injuries were reported, and no structures were damaged.
Fire Marshal Chris Bachman said the blaze, fueled by strong winds and dry conditions, was "rapidly spreading" when crews first showed up.
"We’re obviously experiencing the type of fire behavior we’re seeing in June and July already in May," he said. "It's just the dryer conditions that we had during the winter months, and then all it takes is a day like today with some high winds and low humidity."
Three businesses near the fire were briefly evacuated out of an abundance of caution.
"There was some pretty heavy smoke up here so one of the assistant chiefs made the decision it was time to get that building cleared out," Bachman said.
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