Update, 11 a.m.: Richmond firefighters have subdued a smoky fire in an auto salvage yard that triggered a shelter-in-place order for local residents and sent an attention-getting column of smoke into East Bay skies.
Crews used fire-suppressing foam to subdue the blaze and prevent it from spreading through a property containing hundreds of junked vehicles. Richmond Deputy Fire Chief Emon Usher said about 40 cars burned in the incident, which was first reported at 7:15 a.m.
The blaze at Richmond Parkway and Gertrude Avenue snarled traffic in the area, but there were no reports of injuries and no 911 calls from the public, Usher said.
Usher added there were also no reports of toxicity in the air near the fire, despite a heavy cloud of black smoke that spread southeastward over Richmond and El Cerrito.
Usher said the Fire Department issued the shelter-in-place order, which covered unincorporated North Richmond and parts of the city proper, "because we don’t want the chemicals or poisonous gas to affect our families and our neighbors. That’s what we’re here to do: It's to save lives, and that is why that’s activated, and we’re monitoring that right now."