Firefighters have mostly surrounded a smoky grass fire in Solano County but the blaze moved into marshland Monday, and officials said it could take a week to extinguish the flames.
The Branscombe Fire, near Suisun City, has consumed about 4,700 acres and continues to burn on Grizzly Island, a state wildlife area that features natural tidal wetlands and artificially diked marshes. The conflagration is 80 percent contained, according to the Suisun Fire Protection District.
High winds continued to blow Monday afternoon, not only forcing an extended red flag warning but moving the blaze out of the tinder-dry brush where it started and into the wildlife area. The fire was burning through tule grasses above a foot of water and into the peat floors of dried ponds, where fires can take days to flood and extinguish.