Fire crews aided by a Cal Fire helicopter put out a stubborn 7.5-acre brushfire in the hills of Christmas Hill Park on Tuesday afternoon while volunteers worked below setting up for this weekend’s garlic festival, which is expected to bring about 100,000 visitors to town.
“We were on it very quickly, our stations are very close. I would say our first unit was there within five minutes,” said Colin Martin, division chief of field operations for the Gilroy Fire Department, which was aided by Cal Fire crews.
Martin said he was worried about the effect on the festival when the fire broke out at 2:35 p.m. The cause is under investigation.
Crews were concerned about flammable substances such as propane at the garlic festival.
“We would have shut all the valves that we have installed, all the safety devices would have been put into play and we would have evacuated everyone out of the area,” said Chris Wagner, operation supervisor for AmeriGas.
Mother Nature played a role in containing the fire.
“We were fortunate we didn’t have any significant wind events at the same time,” Martin said.
A Cal Fire helicopter dropped water on the flames, which were in a hilly section over the park and didn’t spread to the festival site. A bulldozer also set up a protective line shielding the park.
“My key objective was to keep it from the hill and not let it jump to the other side of Miller,” Martin said. The very hot fire, fueled by burning trees and thick brush, jumped over one dirt road.
Seven engines, 21 firefighters and two battalion chiefs battled the blaze for two hours. It was under control by 4:22 p.m. and crews cleared the area at 7:51 p.m. after mopping up hotspots.
Black smoke indicates heavy fuel, such as oak trees and thick wood and white smoke shows lighter brush, said Martin. From the time they left the firehouse on Chestnut Street and drove up Tenth, they saw thick black smoke and large flames.
The helicopter crew was lucky that there was a holding pond for construction of the Eagle Ridge development nearby. It was a short flight between the pond and the flames.
