After 10 days of working with local agencies to contain the Lick
Fire, CalFire has handed the reins back to its Santa Clara County
unit and will stick around for the next day or two depending on the
dwindling fire’s temperament.
Gilroy – After 10 days of working with local agencies to contain the Lick Fire, CalFire has handed the reins back to its Santa Clara County unit and will stick around for the next day or two depending on the dwindling fire’s temperament.
More than 30 fire officials gathered at City Hall Wednesday afternoon for the formal transfer. They ran through a checklist of hand-over conditions, such as post-fire containment needs and expected manpower, which hovered around 250 Wednesday, fire officials said.
Local Santa Clara County CalFire battalion Chief Dave McLean, based out of Morgan Hill, will take over the fire camp at Christmas Hill Park, said CalFire Capt. Rob vanWormer, who has been training as a CalFire Incident Commander since the fire began Sept. 4.
McLean will assume control from Incident Command Team Two. The team was dispatched to the fire last week and headed by Bob Wallen, who said of Gilroy that he had “never witnessed this degree of support in 35 years of service.”
VanWormer agreed and said it was now up to McLean to wrap things up.
About 250 CalFire firefighters slept at Christmas Hill Park Wednesday night and will stay there probably until Friday morning, but vanWormer said “it’s up to Dave [McLean] to look at things” to determine if the base camp’s still necessary.
“He could down-size the camp,” vanWormer said, “[but there’s] still the possibility, though very minimal, that the fire could come to life again.”
The wildfire consumed 47,760 acres and destroyed four cabins and 11 outbuildings since Sept. 3 when the fire ignited from a burn barrel lit roughly a mile north of Mt. Sizer. Ten firefighters suffered minor injuries battling the fire, none of them serious.
Remaining crews will work to rebuild dirt roads pulverized by heavy equipment rumbling toward the fire. The fire’s nearly $11 million estimated cost could be billed to a single person, who came forward Friday to admit to accidentally starting the fire.
CalFire has not released the person’s name, pending a complete investigation, and has referred questions about the person to the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office, where David Howe is an assistant DA.
“We have received some initial reports regarding [CalFire’s] investigation,” Howe said. “We’re reviewing them and we expect to receive additional reports in the near future … My hope is that we’d have a better review within the next few days.”
Gilroy Fire Chief Dale Foster said final efforts depend largely on the weather, and Wednesday saw mostly cool, cloudy conditions.
“Basically, the Santa Clara unit is putting the finishing touches on finishing the fire,” Foster said.
The Lick Fire wasn’t the first fire in Gilroy’s backyard, though, according to the Post-Incident Action Summary prepared by Incident Team Two.
The Canyon Fire in roughly the same vicinity consumed about 34,000 acres last year and had been close enough that some of its containment lines were incorporated into fighting the Lick Fire. The Croy Road Fire occurred in 2002, and the Annie, Jump, and Devil fires that burned in 2003 were within about 25 miles of the Lick Fire. And back in 1961, the Bollinger Ridge Fire consumed 34,217 acres throughout much of the same area.
