Two separate brush fires brought highway traffic to a halt on Interstate 505 and Highway 12 in Solano County on Sunday, according to the California Highway Patrol.
The larger fire sparked at about 11:30 a.m. near Suisun City and spread quickly, covering about 4,500 acres by Sunday evening, fire officials said. The blaze shut down all lanes of Highway 12, near Branscombe Road, the CHP said.
Lanes reopened there at about 12:45 p.m., but high winds continued to drive the flames through the dry grass and brush as well as plumes of smoke across other Bay Area regions as far away as Santa Cruz County.
One structure appeared to go up in flames in what has been dubbed the Branscombe Fire, but it was not known whether it was a dwelling or out-building.
Earlier Sunday, Interstate 505 was shut down for about 45 minutes after a brush fire broke out along that route near Vacaville, the CHP said. The blaze, near Vaca Valley Parkway, closed down connector ramps to nearby Interstate 80, the CHP said.
Lanes in both directions on I-505 were closed for about 45 minutes and traffic was being diverted off to Vaca Valley. All lanes were reopened at about 12:15 p.m.
No evacuations have been ordered, but he CHP urged motorists to avoid the area and advised them to expect delays.
Several reports have surfaced about smoke from the fires drifting as far down as parts of Alameda, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties.
Police and fire departments in those Bay Area counties were receiving several calls about the smoke and urged people to not call 911.
Bay City News contributed to this report.
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Photo Credit: NBC Bay Area
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Source: NBC Bay Area
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