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Firefighters took two hours to extinguish a grass fire alongside Highway 680 in Pacheco that spread to a nearby storage unit facility on Tuesday.

The two-alarm fire started at about 2:43 p.m., according to Steve Hill of Contra Costa Fire Protection District. The fire broke out near the Highway 4, Interstate 680 intersection.

By 4:50 p.m. Contra Costa Fire tweeted the operation was in "extensive mop up" and that 450 of the 500-plus storage units were saved at Pacheco Mini Storage.


Many of the units contained vehicles, Hill said.

There were no injuries as a result of this fire, officials said.

Hill said that 90 percent of the recent fires of this type "are started by human activity," particularly along a highway where a tossed cigarette or vehicle malfunction can quickly spark dry vegetation.

"These are very high fire danger times and it's going to be worse between now and October," he said. "We need people to be responsible."

Bay City News contributed to this report.