A bicyclist who died after being struck by a vehicle last week at the intersection of Bernal and Valley avenues and Stanley Boulevard was identified as 72-year-old Gail Turner, according to the Alameda County coroner’s bureau.
Turner, a Pleasanton resident, was traveling south on Valley Avenue when a vehicle traveling east on Stanley Boulevard struck her around 7 a.m. June 23, Pleasanton police said. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
The driver stayed at the scene and cooperated with investigators, police said. The crash remains under investigation.
The intersection was closed for several hours as police investigated the incident.
In other news
Firefighters battled several vegetation fires in and around the Tri-Valley over the past week and a half amid hot weather and at times windy conditions.
The largest incident occurred last Saturday when a blaze off Interstate 580 outside of Livermore in unincorporated Alameda County burned 211 acres.
Dubbed the Grant Fire, the incident involved a cluster of three fires that was first reported just after 4 p.m. off I-580 near West Grant Line Road, about 10 miles east of Livermore.
The fire had grown to 100 acres by about 5 p.m., and at 6 p.m. a total of 150 acres had burned, driven by the wind, Cal Fire battalion chief Ryan Michaels said. By 9 p.m. Saturday, it held at 211 acres, with containment soon to follow.
No structure damage or injuries were reported. The fire threatened some windmills in the area.
Smoke from the fire prompted California Highway Patrol officials to temporarily close westbound I-580, but the westbound lanes re-opened several hours later.
Then the next day, Alameda County firefighters knocked down a big-rig fire that threatened to start a wildfire near where the Grant Fire had burned.
The big-rig fire was first reported at 4:32 p.m. Sunday on eastbound I-580 near West Grant Line Road, Alameda County Fire Department battalion chief Stephanie Radecke said.
Fire crews finished extinguishing the big-rig fire around 5:45 p.m. Sunday, Radecke said. There was high risk of wildfire that afternoon because it was hot, the winds were strong and the big-rig was hauling electronics, all-terrain vehicles, golf carts and a generator, she added.
The truck was on its way from the Sonoma Raceway to the Daytona International Speedway.
The I-580 incidents occurred a few days before firefighters in Pleasanton knocked down a small grass fire that drifted smoke across the Alameda County Fair, prompting the shut down of some rides, and closed a major road in the city last week.
The fire along Bernal Avenue between Valley and Pleasanton avenues was reported at 2:53 p.m. June 22, according to Livermore-Pleasanton deputy fire chief Joe Testa.
Firefighters had it under control in about 20 minutes, and it only burned about an acre of grass. But firefighters had to shut down Bernal Avenue for about 30 minutes that afternoon.
Heavy smoke from the fire drifted into the Alameda County Fair nearby, prompting fair operators to temporarily shut down some rides, though it wasn’t at the request of firefighters, Testa said.
It was started by landscapers working in the area. No structures were threatened and no one was injured.
Livermore-Pleasanton firefighters put out a separate 2-alarm fire in Livermore earlier on June 22.
That fire was reported at about 12:45 p.m. near the Portola Avenue on-ramp to I-580.
High winds caused it to spread and firefighters called a two-alarm response, Alameda County Fire Department spokeswoman Aisha Knowles said. It was under control by 1:30 p.m.
The fire burned 2 acres. No one was injured and no structures were nearby, Testa said. Its cause is under investigation.
*Editor’s note: Information from the Bay City News Service was used in this report.
