MORGAN HILL
– A year after the Croy Fire, which burned more than 3,000 acres
of the Santa Cruz Mountains, destroyed 34 homes and caused $3.5
million in property damage, the possibility for another major
wildfire still exists, fire officials say.
”
It’s my opinion that it will happen again,
”
said Brad Darbro, Santa Clara County Fire Department battalion
chief.
MORGAN HILL – A year after the Croy Fire, which burned more than 3,000 acres of the Santa Cruz Mountains, destroyed 34 homes and caused $3.5 million in property damage, the possibility for another major wildfire still exists, fire officials say.
“It’s my opinion that it will happen again,” said Brad Darbro, Santa Clara County Fire Department battalion chief.
“It could be in Jackson Oaks, it could be in Holiday Lake Estates, it could be in Paradise Valley – anywhere we have our homes, any time we build in urban interface, there is the possibility of catastrophic fires.”
“Urban interface” is a term used to describe areas where structures are built in areas that are grassland.
The danger is particularly great this time of year.
“This is the time that probably some of our biggest fires have occurred,” Darbro said Monday. “Last year, it was Croy. The Oakland Hills fire started on Oct. 20.
“This is when relative humidity is at its lowest, when fuel load is at its highest. Today and into tomorrow we’re under red flag warnings. … We have northeast winds off Great Basin, which brings in hot, dry air. This has been happening in California for thousands of years.”
California Department of Forestry Fire Specialist Chris Morgan confirmed that the danger level is high.
“This is the driest time of the year,” he said. “As we see in our hills to the east, it doesn’t take much to set off 30,000 acres.”
Morgan was referring to a series of 20 fires lit by a lightning storm in late August. While firefighters quickly stomped out 14 of these, the remaining six engulfed 30,000 acres in the Diablo Mountains east of the Santa Clara Valley. The biggest, known as the Annie Fire, exceeded 17,000 acres.
But these, 10 times the size of the Croy Fire, didn’t capture nearly as much public attention because there are virtually no human settlements there. The 30,000 acres affected by the recent blazes are mostly ranch land and contained only 32 structures, Morgan said. None were burned. The Croy Fire, on the other hand, threatened about 600 structures and destroyed more than 30 homes.
“We were very fortunate that all this lightning took place in the eastern mountains, that none of it took hold in these western mountains,” Morgan said.
After 18 years without a major wildfire in the area, fire officials say they were not really surprised that the Croy Fire caused such devastation.
There is a theory, Darbro said, that letting small fires burn, or starting “prescriptive,” or controlled, fires could prevent a major wildfire such as Croy or the 1924 fire in the same location.
“There is a belief that once, many years ago, the fuel load (underbrush) was controlled by small fires, but now we have allowed the fuel load to just build and build,” he said. “That was taken care of naturally before fire suppression. The frequent small fires would burn out undergrowth and naturally manicure the forests.”
But there are also arguments against prescriptive fires, Darbro pointed out.
“Prescriptive burning has other constraints, air quality being one of them,” he said. “The big issue is particulate matter in air, possibly elevating greenhouse gases. What we can do is clear the fuel load without the fires. It takes more work on the part of property owners, using chippers to grind up the branches and brush, but that doesn’t mean we can’t do it mechanically.”
Residents can protect their property by lowering the fire danger.
Darbro said there are very specific fire prevention steps residents can take: maintaining a 30- to 100-foot area around the residence that is free from brush and flammable materials (no woodpiles against the house); keep roofs and gutters free from dead leaves, pine needles and small branches; trim overhanging tree limbs and all branches that are less than eight feet from the ground to prevent a brush fire from climbing the tree or spreading to the roof of a structure; and cover chimney or stovepipe with metal mesh so burning embers don’t fly to nearby roofs.
“Visible house numbers, at least four inches high, can help firefighters locate a residence,” Darbro said, “and if a homeowner is remodeling, they should consider putting on a fire-resistant roof.”
As a community, he said, one thing that can make a big difference when it comes to catastrophic fires is the number of firefighters available to answer the call.
“We always staff extra people during red flag conditions,” he said. “It is important to get to the fire quickly, in the initial stages, to keep it contained. It’s really important to keep staffing up.”
The Croy Fire, which started Sept. 23, was called contained Sept. 29 but continued to burn until the rains came in November, finally dousing it completely.
