Corral Fire evacuees relieved to be back home after wind-driven wildfire

TRACY – Tracy residents are relieved to be back home after being evacuated during the Corral fire Saturday night.

“I was telling my parents that we had to leave right away because I could see the really big flames and all that,” said Nayana Goolore, who evacuated with her family.

Nayana and her family were evacuated to a friend's house nearby while they waited for evacuation orders to be lifted. The San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office downgraded mandatory evacuations to warnings Sunday at 6 p.m.

“I was panicked because it was a mile and a half from my house,” Nayana said.

The trio moved into their Tracy home last month and their neighbors across the street moved in last week.

“We clearly saw the fire,” said Krishnasagar Vermurakond, who moved into his new home in Tracy a week ago.

He and his family were evacuated to a friend's house.

“Before we could see the grass yellow and now everything is burned, it’s black,” Vermurakond said.

The Prairie Fire was fueled by fierce wind gusts of nearly 60 miles per hour Saturday, making a direct attack difficult.

Slower wind speeds Sunday gave firefighters the opportunity to conduct aerial attacks and crews to better manage focus on hot spots.

“If people are looking for a sign that it’s time to prepare for peak fire activity, this is the sign,” said Cécile Juliette of Cal Fire.

Juliette said as the weather warms this week, so will the risk of fires.

“Just because we had a few years where there were fewer fires, anything can happen this year,” Juliette said.

Seeing a start to the fire season like this in early June is a sure sign to stay prepared.

“We should be better prepared by keeping all documents in one place, keeping all suitcases and everything important in one place,” said Shruthi Goolore, who was evacuated.

Power was out for more than an hour Saturday evening as people evacuated. A neighbor said he had to manually lift his garage to get his car out so his family could get to safety.

Cal Fire will continue to work toward full containment overnight and into Monday. A house was destroyed by flames. Two firefighters were burned by the flames on Saturday and sent to hospital. They expect a full recovery.