Nearly a year after the fightening Croy Fire, first prevention
officials and residents have worked together to keep homes safe and
the unprecedented effort has become a model for cooperation.
GILROY – California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection officials say they are “very impressed” so far with the results of the most intense home-to-home fire code inspections ever conducted in South County’s rural hills.
Spurred by last September’s devastating Croy Fire that marched uncontrollably through the parched hills northwest of Gilroy for nearly a week, the local office of the CDF began its first-of-its-kind campaign in May.
Since then, CDF officials and volunteers have inspected 330 structures in South County’s western foothills, from Croy Road to Summit Road, and will continue to tour hundreds more in the coming months.
Of those 330 structures inspected so far, only 16 were found out of compliance with CDF fire standards, while the remaining 314 homes, barns and sheds earned passing grades, said Steve Espe, bureau chief of the CDF’s South County division.
“This program has been largely successful thanks to the residents’ compliance,” Espe said Thursday. “After (the Croy Fire) our goal was to develop a trusting relationship with the local residents, which I think we have.”
Throughout the inspections a handful of highly-trained, though nonpaid, volunteer CDF inspectors use detailed maps of South County’s western foothill roads to probe the fire-safety-code compliance of every structure in various rural neighborhoods.
Included in the inspections are homes along Mt. Madonna Road, Croy Road – where the Croy Fire sparked – the neighborhoods of Casa Loma and Loma Chiquita, and Summit Road between Pole Line and Loma Prieta roads.
In previous years, the CDF has sent inspectors to all of the neighborhoods inspected this year, but it has never dedicated so much manpower to South County in a single campaign, Espe said.
Inspectors began posting signs throughout many of the rural neighborhoods in May, and a team of five volunteers created checkpoints on certain roads where they handed out fire-code check sheets to spread word of inspections.
Following the Croy Fire, many local residents, fire and county officials expressed concerns with the large number of unpermitted homes, trailers and recreational vehicles that dotted the snaking 7900 block of Croy Road where the fire began.
The CDF eventually cited faulty solar panel wiring for sparking the fire which burned more than 3,000 acres of the Santa Cruz Mountains, destroyed 34 homes, caused $3.5 million in property damage and cost the state $10 million to extinguish.
It is believed that basic fire code negligence by several area residents led to the rapid spread of the fire and the destruction of many homes, Espe said.
“The Croy Fire was a wake-up call to a lot of people in the area,” he said. “I think that’s why our inspections have gone so well.”
During inspections, volunteers either toured the properties with residents or if nobody was home they left a copy of the fire-code check sheet at a home’s front door.
If the home or structure on a property did not earn enough points to pass code, inspectors left a notice and a phone number to call and set up an appointment with an inspector. If upgrades haven’t been made by that time, a $100 fine for each violation will be issued.
Investigators educate residents on basic fire prevention methods, such as defensible space, removing old and dead vegetation from properties, trimming trees, marking water sources and making sure residential addresses are clearly labeled on the road to help firefighters and rescue personnel locate the home quickly.
A list of all homes inspected will be entered into a CDF computer database for future use.
“I think the CDF generally does very good work and people want to be responsive to them,” said Steve Slusser, a resident of the 7900 block of Croy Road whose home suffered nearly $250,000 in smoke and fire damage from the Croy Fire. Slusser’s home has not yet been inspected by the CDF, but he said he received a letter in May outlining the fire codes and has worked to make sure his home is in compliance.
“I suspect that they haven’t made it up here because there aren’t many houses left to inspect.”
Espe said the CDF’s next focus of inspections will be homes in the Redwood Retreat and Hecker Pass area.
He expects the increased campaign to continue for the next few wildfire seasons – May to October – to bring all of South County’s rural homes into compliance.
“Often all people need is a little nudge,” he said. “We can inspect all the homes we can get to, but in the end it’s the responsibility of the resident to provide a safe environment for themselves and their neighbors.”
For more information about the CDF fire inspections, call the CDF at 779-6611.
The victims of the Croy Fire have established a Web site to communicate with each other and provide information for people wanting to help the recovery process. If you would like to help the victims of the Croy Fire or get more information go to www.mall-net.com/croyfire/
