Small Fire Brought Under Control In Canyon; Power Restored To Residents

A downed power line sparked a brief grass fire and knocked out power to much of the Canyon area outside Moraga Monday.

Moraga Orinda Fire District Battalion Chief Darrell Lee said nine firefighters were called out to fight the fire after it was reported at 2:48 p.m. near the intersection of Canyon and Pinehurst roads in the unincorporated community.

The fire, which had a difficult time getting started in Monday's wet, rainy weather, was put down within about twenty minutes, Lee reported. A pine tree brought down due to unstable soil conditions caused by the day's rain brought the power lines down with it, Lee said, and knocked out power for much of the community until 7:30 p.m.

"PG&E arrived on scene to shut off power to the area, so workers from East Bay Regional Parks and County Public Works could cut up the tree safely," he wrote.  Unknown how long the power would be out in the area.

A CALFIRE crew dispatched at the outset of the incident was cancelled enroute, according to Lee. There were no injuries as a result of the fire or outage though traffic in the remote area was tangled through the commute hour.