April 01--A tall column of smoke blackened Vallejo skies Sunday after a passenger bus burst into flames on Interstate 80, burning towering eucalyptus trees and nearly searing a nearby apartment complex.
The incident started at about 6 p.m. Sunday when a 40-foot passenger crashed on eastbound 80, just west of the Redwood Street overpass, firefighters said on the scene.
The bus was empty except for the driver, who managed to escape as the vehicle ignited and became engulfed in flames on the right shoulder.
The dark smoke was visible across much of Vallejo as the flames then caught four 200-foot tall eucalyptus trees on fire. The trees bordered the back side of an apartment complex on Admiral Callaghan Lane.
Arriving Vallejo police officers immediate evacuated the six-unit complex as the flames destroyed the wooden fence between the freeway and the property. Emergency personnel blocked off Admiral Callaghan Lane as firefighters began attacking the fire both from the freeway and Admiral Callaghan Lane.
Firefighters also checked every unit to make sure people and their pets had evacuated safely. Many stood in the empty parking lot of the Vallejo Veterans Memorial Building across the street. It is unclear how many people evacuated.
As firefighters knocked down the flames, embers from the trees would suddenly light smaller spot fires on eucalyptus trees in the front of the property. Those were quickly extinguished by firefighters.
The firefighters managed to douse the flames before they ignited the apartment complex, though a storage shed and items in the backyard such as a workout bench were destroyed.
No one was hurt in the incident.
Copyright 2013 - Times-Herald, Vallejo, Calif.
