Firefighters on Wednesday worked to strengthen containment lines on a wildfire that broke out near Pleasanton and triggered evacuations the day before. Crews were able to stop the Little Fire‘s forward progress and increase containment to 60% by Wednesday evening, Cal Fire said. Just over 1,000 acres burned. By Wednesday evening, all evacuation orders had been lifted. Cal Fire Santa Clara Unit Battalion Chief Alex Mikesell explained that the fire got closest to homes in Pleasanton’s Ruby Hill neighborhood, where he said flames reached within 30 feet of residences. However, he credited preventative work by the property owner’s association, residents, and an adjacent rancher with keeping the fire from accelerating towards homes. “The defensible space clearance that they did have in the backyards that were past the fence line, it did help slow down the fire to where we were able to catch up to it,” Mikesell said. He added that the clearance and removal of dry brush on the backside of the neighborhood “helped a lot in the firefighting efforts.” Ruby Hill residents said their property owners’ association clears tall grasses each spring that grow in the area between homes and the neighboring ranch property. Alameda County Supervisor David Haubert, who represents the area where the fire is burning, said that in the years since the 2017 fire in Napa and Sonoma Counties and the 2025 Southern California wildfires, he’s seen residents and ranchers alike take more serious action to create defensible space around their properties. “Defending your home, hardening your home, it affects your ability to get fire insurance, it affects your ability to save your property, and it’s super important to do,” Haubert noted. Residents who’ve lived in the Ruby Hills neighborhood for nearly 30 years said they’d never seen a fire like this there. Longtime resident Jay Ewanich said when it comes to wildfire risk, he believes he and his neighbors are “cognizant of it, certainly.” “But believing it will ever come to fruition, that it’s going to be a fire encroaching upon this area? Probably not,” Ewanich continued. He said he got home from work Tuesday after the evacuation orders had already been issued, and he only had time to grab his dog, his clothes and go. Neighbor Dick Tietgens, who also said he’s lived in the neighborhood for nearly 30 years, expressed his gratitude for the quick response from fire crews. “I can’t say enough good things about the response, how it was handled, the fire departments that came,” Tietgens said. The blaze started Tuesday afternoon in the area of Vallecitos and Little Valley Roads in the Sunol area and spread northeast toward Pleasanton’s Ruby Hill neighborhood. No property was damaged in the blaze, according to Cal Fire. One firefighter suffered minor injuries when a Cal Fire engine rolled over, Cal Fire said. The firefighter was taken to a hospital and later released. The cause of the fire remains under investigation. ...read more read less