With the Lick Fire completely encircled, CalFire is scaling back
its offensive on the blaze.
Gilroy – With the Lick Fire completely encircled, CalFire is scaling back its offensive on the blaze.
“We’re demobilizing,” said CalFire spokesman Frank Kemper, who estimated that a “few hundred” workers would remain to “mop up” any smoldering flames in Henry Coe State Park. “We’re down to 940 workers now, and we’ll be down to 250 tomorrow.”
The wildfire consumed 47,760 acres and destroyed four cabins and 11 outbuildings since last Monday when the fire ignited from a burn barrel lit roughly a mile north of Mt. Sizer. During the past eight days, 10 firefighters suffered minor injuries battling the fire, none of them serious.
Tuesday, private vendors across from the Christmas Hill fire camp were selling the last of commemorative T-shirts and sweatshirts emblazoned with the Rolling Stones’ tongue logo, a pun on the fire’s name.
The fire has cost $9.3 million to snuff thus far, and could near the $10 million mark this week, as the remaining crews work to rebuild dirt roads pulverized by heavy equipment rumbling toward the fire. Those millions 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. DA spokesman David Tomkins was unable to confirm whether the DA was considering charges against the person by press time.
Meanwhile, local CalFire battalion chief Dave McLean will take over the fire camp in Christmas Hill Park, said Kemper, assuming control from the Incident Command team that was dispatched to the fire last week.
