A mobile home off Croy Road was spared by a small fire earlier
this month, but no thanks to its owner’s upkeep.
The residence would not have passed a California Department of
Forestry inspection that is being conducted on as many as 2,600
hillside structures during the summer and fall months. By this
week, Fire Prevention Specialist Chris Morgan estimates he will
have visited 75 percent of the properties that must be inspected
for cleared brush, trimmed trees and other measures that protect
homes during a fire.
By Lori Stuenkel
Gilroy – A mobile home off Croy Road was spared by a small fire earlier this month, but no thanks to its owner’s upkeep.
The residence would not have passed a California Department of Forestry inspection that is being conducted on as many as 2,600 hillside structures during the summer and fall months. By this week, Fire Prevention Specialist Chris Morgan estimates he will have visited 75 percent of the properties that must be inspected for cleared brush, trimmed trees and other measures that protect homes during a fire.
On Wednesday morning he headed to unincorporated Morgan Hill, off Sycamore Drive and Armsby Lane in the western hills. Volunteer Herman DeKruyff joined him as he pulled into Tohara Way.
The property owners in this area are generally good at doing what they can and must, by law, do to reduce fire fuel to protect not only their houses but others nearby, Morgan said.
“This area is kind of a pocket,” he said. “It’s hot, it’s dry, and some of the roads are very steep (for fire engines). But the people are pretty well aware.”
Precautions required of landowners include creating a 30-foot space around structures that is free of dry brush, cleaning roofs and gutters, and clearing dead or overhanging branches. By law, that safe space was extended to 100 feet this year, but Morgan is allowing some leeway this summer.
“We want them to get it to 30 to 40 feet. We’re enforcing to 30, and encouraging the additional 70,” he said.
He walked up to the first property to be inspected that morning, a three-year-old two-story home with a tile roof and no landscaping. Surrounding the house was dry, golden-brown grass, with dead weeds rising several feet in some places. Compared to the weeds and brush beyond the property line, though, the yard is quite clear.
“You can tell they’ve mowed, but I’ll probably ask them to go ahead and mow again,” Morgan said. “With all the late rain we had, even people who mowed had stuff grow right back up again.”
Resident Paige Cisewski met Morgan out in front of her home. Besides asking her to mow again, he also suggests she remove all the dry grass – down to the dirt – in a 14-inch circle around the house.
Cisewski, who has lived there for eight years, said this is the first time she’s seen CDF inspectors, but is well aware of how to keep her home safe. Mostly, that means keeping the lawn mowed because after re-building the house three years ago, she decided not to keep much brush around, she said, adding that the new home is equipped with fire sprinklers.
Morgan filled out a form indicating the problem area, as he’ll do with all the houses he inspects. The legal form is also used to record where structures are located – down to longitude and latitude – what type of structures they are, what kind of vegetation is nearby, and even whether the structure has a fire-proof roof. If issues are not amended by his second visit 14 days later, he may write a citation. Last year, he cited two people.
Owners of properties that require extensive work may be afforded more time on an inspector’s second visit.
“But with the understanding that at any time, a fire could come along and wipe them out,” Morgan said. “That’s the motivating factor. We’ve had some local fires and people are a little nervous.”
The small July 8 fire near a mobile home was the first in western South County hills this season.
“That could have been a lot worse, but thankfully, because of the weather, it stayed close to the ground,” Morgan said. “They were very lucky it didn’t escape and get all the brush.”
The 2002 Croy canyon blaze destroyed 34 buildings and 3,200 acres near that same area.
“That woke everybody up, because you could actually walk up to the top of the hill and see it,” Cisewski said, indicating a hill facing her house.
After property inspections are complete, the CDF will return to check on power lines in the area, looking for any malfunctioning hardware or other problems. For the first time this year, volunteers also be inspecting companies that rent mowers, wood-chippers, and trimmers to ensure all the equipment has spark arresters.
For more information on fire prevention, visit www.fire.ca.gov.
