Helicopter Drops Water on Suspicious Tennessee Valley Fire

The Marin County Fire Department used a helicopter to drop water on a vegetation fire that broke out at the end of Tennessee Valley Road around 3 p.m. Friday.

Officials are investigating the cause, but say it’s considered suspicious, the Marin Independent Journal reports. It burned through about half an acre, but didn’t spread to any of the 20 homes nearby.

Access to the site was difficult, but wind conditions were favorable and firefighters put it out in about an hour. 

"I'm so used to watching fog creep over the hillside or up the valley, that I dismissed what I thought might be a fire," Shima Moore, a resident in one of the nearby homes in danger, posted on Facebook. 

But the "fog" looked unusual, and soon she heard sirens and smelled smoke. She walked down Via Recodo to the end of the cul de sac, and asked a lone police officer about the situation. 

"He said the fireman couldn't get to the fire itself from the steps where the smoke was visible and laughed as he pointed out the sign, 'Danger, Critical Fire Area,'" Moore said. 

The firemen were headed down to Tennessee Valley to try an alternative route, and she and others in the area worried about the possibility of having to leave. 

"An important question for us all to ask: What would I take if I had 10 minutes to be evacuated," Moore said.