Mill Valley and Southern Marin Fire Departments responded to a brush fire near Mill Valley Middle School at the Southern Marin Municipal Water District on March 12. The fire started at approximately 6:00 pm in the brush just outside the property lines and spread along the East fence line for about 100 yards.

“I saw a bunch of smoke and then I saw the fire get really big. Everyone started yelling,” said Tam sophomore Aiden Niere. “I ran over to see what was happening, and I heard sirens and saw the firemen coming.”

Roughly 10 minutes later, the Mill Valley Fire Department arrived at the facility. A crew began to climb over a fence initially blocking access to the site when Southern Marin Fire Department, led by Engine 4 out of Station 7, drove up a nearby dirt road and contained the burning within a few minutes. As many as 3 engines, a rescue truck, two police interceptors, and several ambulances in the area responded to the incident.

“We had a walk-in report [that] told us there was a large fire across the way so we thought we thought it was a structure fire, not expecting a vegetation fire in March,” said Southern Marin Battalion Chief Scott Barnes.

This wasn’t the first brush fire to occur in Mill Valley this year. A few months prior, a fire was started in an area nearby when several teenagers discarded a rolled cigarette into a patch of dry brush. Ultimately, it was contained by crews from Mill Valley Fire Department from Station 7 and other nearby engines. In Novato, Fire Departments have been fighting multiple arson fires.

“It’s hard to tell what the cause of the fire is, but someone could have been walking by and dropped a cigarette… We just don’t know at this point,” said Barnes, motioning towards a patch of smoldering brush to his right. “This obviously is where the fire started, you can feel the wind moving [to the left] so the fire moved in that direction. We’re going to look for what caused the fire, whether it be matches, cigarettes, fire works.”