Features

Bucket brigade 

Summoned by a report of a grass fire burning near the railroad tracks in the 700 block of University Avenue, Berkeley firefighters arrived to find a vestige of a bygone era—a working bucket brigade. 

The call came in at 5 p.m. last Friday, Sept. 4, reported Deputy Fire Chief Gil Dong. 

“On arrival, firefighters found a brigade of citizens trying to put out the fire with buckets,” he said. 

But buckets weren’t doing a lot of good at quenching the flames, which were quickly consuming a 20-by-20-foot dried-out yard. 

However, a blast of water from a fire hose hooked to a fire truck made nearly instant work of the flames, which may have been caused by a discarded cigarette. 

There was no damage to nearby structures.