Galt fire briefly closes Highway 99
All lanes of Highway 99 near Galt were temporarily closed on Wednesday afternoon due to a fire, although no injuries have been reported.
Cosumnes Fire Chief Mike McLaughlin said the fire was reported at approximately 2:30 p.m. Wednesday and appeared to have started on the west side of Highway 99 near Simmerhorn Road in Galt, before spreading across to the east side of the highway and into a nearby wrecking yard, also damaging at least one vehicle at the nearby Trail Ridge Apartments.
“I’m fortunate to say that due to the work of crews on the scene, the fire stayed out of the buildings and was contained to the cars in the wrecking yard” McLaughlin said. “I do expect Highway 99 to be closed for another hour or so while the crews clean up.”
A grass fire was also reported at approximately 2:03 p.m. Wednesday that appeared to have started west of New Hope and Orr Roads west of Galt, before spreading into a nearby drainage system, and that approximately 50 units responded.
“It’s loosely contained at about 100 acres, and we did have one firefighter who was experiencing chest pains and was treated at a nearby hospital.” McLaughlin said.
McLaughlin said arson investigators have been called in to determine what caused the fires, which are not the first in the Galt area in recent weeks.
“What I will say is that over the past couple of weeks, we have had a pattern of several fires along the median and shoulders of Highway 99 from Elk Grove to Galt, so we’re treating these fires as very suspicious,” McLaughlin said.