A small fire in north Gilroy was quickly put out Wednesday
afternoon, but it sparked fear and anger in area residents that
still burns.
A small fire in north Gilroy was quickly put out Wednesday afternoon, but it sparked fear and anger in area residents that still burns.
The blaze – which was only about one to 1.5 acres – started about 12:30 p.m. in a grass field near Murray Avenue and Las Animas Road after a small Bobcat tractor hit a rock or a piece of metal, said Battalion Chief Clay Bentson. The sparks lit nearby grass on fire and soon the whole field was burning. The man called for help from his cell phone.
The wind carried fire into the crown of nearby palm trees. One palm was so badly burnt that it stood black and leafless against the sky. Firemen later cut the tree down with an electric saw. At the same time, other firemen sprayed a white foam on the ground and into nearby palms.
The operator of the bobcat was doing the right thing – just at the wrong time of day, Bentson said. It’s not optimal conditions to be mowing dry grass in the middle of a warm day with a breeze, he said.
Yet, the man was mowing the field in response to an outcry after a fire two weeks ago, Bentson said. That fire jumped across the street and burned in the field that borders the other side of nearby resident Hilda Andrade’s house.
Andrade came home from work in San Francisco after a co-worker informed her that a fire had started in the field across the street from her house.
This time, Andrade had been talking to her son-in-law on the phone when she learned about the fire and said, “Listen I have to go-there’s a fire again.”
Her son in law responded, “Again?”
Andrade and her husband have lived in their house for five years and these are the first two fires they have seen near their home. Still, Andrade was concerned because high weeds are growing in a ditch that borders her house. The land belongs to the city and is a fire hazard, she said.
“With the wind like this, it can cause a big thing,” Andrade said.
A call to city staff was not immediately returned.
Eleven Gilroy firemen and four South County firemen were called to fight the fire, Bentson said.
Many large forest fires start with machinery fires, he said. Luckily in this case most of the nearby fields were already mowed.
The fire station gets anywhere from four to five calls a day to 10-15 calls a day, Bentson said. This year, more calls have been medical related than in previous years. The weather hasn’t been as dry and hot and there have not been any freak dry lightening storms like last year, he added.
But Andrade and her husband were still concerned about their house, she said. Last time there was a fire people drove by and didn’t call for help, she said. She and her neighbors work, so next time there might not be someone to report the fire.
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