More than 30 lots similar to the one that caught fire and
threatened homes in west Gilroy Wednesday evening remain fire
hazards despite two months of warning and multiple notices to the
owners, fire officials said Thursday.
Gilroy – More than 30 lots similar to the one that caught fire and threatened homes in west Gilroy Wednesday evening remain fire hazards despite two months of warning and multiple notices to the owners, fire officials said Thursday.
Of the more than 300 property owners who received weed abatement notices from the city of Gilroy in April, about 30 failed to clear hazardous brush from their land before a public hearing June 5. The New Hope Community Church, which owns the lot where a fire started Wednesday evening, was among 20 owners who pledged to clean up their property within a week, city Fire Marshal Jackie Bretschneider said.
“They had promised me they would get it done,” she said. “Obviously they didn’t.”
The blaze, which started at 6:05pm, charred three acres of brush, threatened two homes, damaged a fence and caused smoke damage to items inside the threatened homes.
The pastors from the church were having trouble finding somebody to do the work for them, said Clay Bentson, Division Chief of the Gilroy Fire Department.
“The biggest problem is finding a contractor,” Bentson said. “There’s only a few contractors that do that type of work and they’re booked up.”
Neither senior pastor Malcom MacPhail nor pastor Bill Hawkins would comment on why the church had not cleared the brush. However, MacPhail said, “The fire chief is correct.”
Residents of the Villagio housing development, whose homes were threatened by the fire, were incensed because of the frequency of the fires and unresponsiveness from the church.
“They said this was going to be a parking lot,” resident Terry Ferrigno said, gesturing to the charred lot.
Ferrigno’s fence has been burned twice in the four fires that have stuck the same lot in her three years since moving in.
“The church needs to cut it,” she said.
In addition to trying to get owners like the church to comply with weed abatement, the fire department has ordered a contractor to cut down the weeds on 10 properties whose owners did not respond to messages from the city after the June hearing. The city will bill the property owners for the work in their taxes next year.
Low rainfall has created particularly fertile conditions for fires across the state. Already this year, fires have started in San Martin and Hollister and a blaze in South Lake Tahoe has been raging since Sunday. Gilroy is at a similarly high level of risk for fire, Bentson said.
“Moistures here are as low now as in September and October,” he said. “Especially with the Fourth of July coming up here, we’re very nervous.”
