With the Memorial Day holiday weekend serving as the unofficial kickoff to summer, the Escalon Fire Department saw plenty of calls leading up to and during the holiday period.

Fire officials reported a total of 23 calls for service from Monday, May 18 through Sunday, May 24 with some mutual aid responses, a couple of vehicle accidents, and a river rescue among them.

On Monday, May 24, crews responded with mutual aid to a reported vegetation fire at Highway 99 and State Route 120, providing assistance to the Manteca Fire Department. The call came in shortly before 11:30 a.m.

A call on Saturday, May 23 at 4:44 p.m. sent crews to the 23000 block of Santa Fe, to a river rescue at Jacob Myers Park. They were called to assist with locating stranded rafters on the river; Modesto Fire Department officials reported that all victims were removed safely.

Friday, May 22, the department was dispatched to a two-vehicle accident at Lone Tree and Steinegul at 5 p.m.; it was determined to be a non-injury crash.

On Thursday, May 21, Escalon crews responded with mutual aid to Stanislaus County, to a report of a working structure fire in the 9800 block of Woodward Lake Drive. When Escalon arrived on scene, they assisted in extinguishing a vegetation fire at the location.

Then, they were dispatched to a reported two-vehicle accident, at 6:20 p.m., at River Road and McHenry Avenue. However, when crews arrived on scene, they were unable to locate any crash in the area.

The busy week may be a sign of things to come, as Fire Chief Rick Mello said the summer months typically include a number of river rescues as well as an increase in fire calls around the region.