Gilroy
– In the nearly 80-degree heat Thursday, Fire Prevention
Specialist Chris Morgan of the California Department of Forestry
sat on the side of Croy Road and took in his surroundings.
By Lori Stuenkel
Gilroy – In the nearly 80-degree heat Thursday, Fire Prevention Specialist Chris Morgan of the California Department of Forestry sat on the side of Croy Road and took in his surroundings.
The shrubs that edged a nearby fence and grasses growing in a field across the road were, in his estimation, twice as tall as in an average year.
“I’ve never seen them so tall in my 22 years doing this,” Morgan said.
Thursday was the second day of a fire prevention education effort that brings information to the residents of wooded and hillside areas in anticipation of the coming fire season.
One thing Morgan will tell every driver who voluntarily stops is also spelled out in red ink on a poster board nearby: Starting this year, the minimum clearance area around all structures will increase from 30 to 100 feet.
Morgan will be setting up “informational checkpoints” along roads in the South County hills, mostly west of Gilroy and Morgan Hill, during the coming weeks. On Wednesday, he passed out brochures and gave tips to some 50 passers-by on Redwood Retreat Road. Traffic was lighter past Thursday’s checkpoint on Croy Road, but area residents had no trouble stopping to hear Morgan’s alert.
“It’s been extremely positive,” Morgan said. “They’re very surprised that we’re out here coming to them.”
Despite two days of rain earlier this week and more rain expected early next week, fire season still looms.
“The rain’s (postponing) it, but it’s inevitable,” Morgan said, adding that there is no indication when fire season will start. “We’re on the cusp of it right now. Even though (the grass) is wet, it’s still dying.”
Dead vegetation, including brush, grass and leaves, can be a major fire hazard around wildlands homes, and state law requires that homeowners create a “defensible space” free of it to inhibit the spread of a wildfire. Starting this summer, homeowners must remove all brush and flammable vegetation within 100 feet around their homes, and all vegetation within 30 feet must be green and well-maintained.
“Thirty feet is just not enough” of a brush-free area, Morgan said. “Sometimes, 100 feet is not enough.”
CDF is considering this a transition year, and will allow homeowners to work toward meeting the 100-feet clearance set when the law was amended last year. Inspectors will begin looking at properties starting June 1, the deadline for compliance, and enforce the 30-foot zone at rural homes during the following weeks. They will be checking that trees do not have any branches that hang over the roof or come within 10 feet of chimneys or stovepipes, roofs are cleared of any leaves or needles, and all chimneys are covered with a screen, among other requirements.
Inspectors will issue a warning if a homeowner is not in compliance. If the area is not cleared within 14 days, they may issue a citation, which costs $100 for a first offense and $500 for a second offense.
Morgan also was alerting hillside residents of the potential dangers of mowing grass or trimming trees.
“Mowing is one of the most dangerous things you can do out here,” Morgan said.
Mowers, chain saws, weed-eaters, and similar equipment must have proper screens called spark arresters to prevent sparks from igniting nearby brush. Rocks need to be removed from the area, because they can cause a spark if they hit the metal blade of a mower. Exhaust pipes and mufflers on vehicles, including cars, can start fires if placed near dry brush, as well.
Morgan will focus his checkpoints in the area of the 2002 Croy fire, visiting Little Uvas Road, Casa Loma and Summit Road.
“Because of the severity of the fire, we want people to be in tune – which they are – to the importance of it,” he said. “The Bay Area has a fire history. A lot of folks are very sophisticated, and they know what they need to do.”
Still, Morgan already has answered plenty of questions from rural residents, many of whom are concerned about fire danger after an unusually wet winter. Two-and-a-half years ago, a wildfire blazed through the Croy and Eastman canyons, engulfing 34 buildings and obliterating 3,200 acres of chaparral habitat.
Kenn Weeks, a Croy Road resident and deputy chief of the Uvas Volunteer Fire Department formed in the wake of the fire, joined Morgan Thursday afternoon to encourage his neighbors to protect their homes and the canyon.
“It’s not that difficult to do,” Weeks said. “The other part of it is, if you follow the guidelines of the law … if your house is going to be engulfed, it won’t become a wildfire or spread to your neighbors and burn down their house.”
