Yesterday, around 12:35 p.m., multiple fire agencies were dispatched to a vehicle fire in the Willowbrook-Sherwood subdivision locating a pickup attached to a utility trailer on fire spewing flame and smudgy black smoke skyward. A nearby resident told us firefighters went into action and extinguished the blaze within fifteen minutes
The resident, who requested to be unnamed, said she saw a “large plume of black smoke” in the direction of her neighbors and drove there to check in. Upon arrival, the resident saw a “small pick-up truck on fire in my neighbor’s driveway” and someone using a hose to wet the area around the fire to prevent spread. At that point, emergency personnel were on their way to the location near the intersection of First Gate Road and Pinecrest Road.
By 12:44 p.m., the resident told us firefighters arrived with two water tenders, and three of their trucks, accompanied by a deputy from the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office. Within fifteen minutes of arrival, firefighters had extinguished the utility trailer and then then the pick-up itself. After the flames had died down, she noticed a riding lawn mower was in the trailer
A Facebook post by the Brooktrails Volunteer Fire Department stated their agency, along with Willits’s Little Lake Fire Department, and CAL FIRE responded to the blaze which they said was contained to the vehicle not extending into the wildland.
The resident who reached out to us expressed their gratitude for Brooktrails Fire and the other agencies “for showing up so quickly and taking care of the situation!”
Countless Mendocino County residents rely on the swift action of our volunteer fire departments when we are in need from fires, to medical emergencies, to traffic accidents. They do that work with minimal funding. To donate to the Brooktrails Volunteer Fire Department, mail or drop off a check to 24860 Birch Street, Willits, CA 95490. For donations to the Little Lake Fire Department, mail or drop off a check to 74 E Commercial St, Willits, CA 95490.
