TRACY, Calif. (AP) -- California's wildfire season officially opens Monday, but flames arrived early in San Joaquin County, where a fast-moving grass fire burned more than 2,000 acres.
The Bird Fire, named for the road where it started, broke out just before noon Sunday in the brown hills southeast of Tracy on the Central Valley's western edge. Winds of 20 mph helped push the fire on a six-mile run southeast from its starting point, and smoke and flames were visible from Interstate 5.
Nearly 200 firefighters and support staff had the blaze 50 percent contained by Sunday evening, California Department of Forestry spokeswoman Pam Rhoten said. It threatened power lines, but no homes, Rhoten said.
Fire officials could not estimate when the fire would be contained.
