With at least seven fires causing problems in the Santa Clara
Valley, the state Department of Forestry is hoping that by breaking
its group into four parts it will more effectively put out the
flames.
“Right now, we’re at 5,800 acres (total),” Chris Morgan, fire
prevention specialist for CDF, said Thursday. “We have 1,664
firefighters out there right now.”
With at least seven fires causing problems in the Santa Clara Valley, the state Department of Forestry is hoping that by breaking its group into four parts it will more effectively put out the flames.
“Right now, we’re at 5,800 acres (total),” Chris Morgan, fire prevention specialist for CDF, said Thursday. “We have 1,664 firefighters out there right now.”
At least 25 more fires have sprouted up in the Diablo Range east and northeast of Morgan Hill into Alameda and Stanislaus counties.
“We are making headway,” Morgan said.
Information from CDF late Thursday described the growth of the fires. The total reached more than 7,000 acres: Devil fire, approximately 487 acres, 10-15 percent contained, some structures threatened; Hamilton fire, approximately 462 acres, 50 percent contained, experiencing some difficulty; jump fire, approximately 3,832 acres, 30 percent contained, some structures threatened; Kincaid fire, approximately 60 acres, 40 percent contained; Annie fire, approximately 3,874 acres, 40 percent contained.
The increases in acreage burned on some of the fires are blamed on strong afternoon winds and steep, inaccessible terrain.
To attack all of the blazes, firefighters in the Valley are now separated into four different branches directed by a single management team, whose team members were brought in from several training facilities throughout California.
“We had to make it a complex and break it up in branches one through four,” Morgan said. “It’s much more effective that way.”
While the main camp has been set up in Dublin, about 800 firefighters have begun to set up base camp at Christmas Hill Park in Gilroy.
CDF has set Monday as its goal for complete containment of the fires – which started as a result of Monday night’s electrical storm that shot numerous lightning bolts into trees, bushes and other dry shrubs throughout the region – but that’s with the hope of good weather.
“If it’s dry and windy, that’ll change,” Morgan said. “It’s so smoky in there that it’s not easy to see what’s happening in there. It’s quite a deal.”
Morgan said that attacking the Annie Fire, the closest fire to Morgan Hill which has burned more than 3,800 acres of land off of Highway 152 near Henry Coe Park, has been a major challenge for firefighters.
“It’s remote, the access is horrible, extreme,” he said. “The firefighters have had to walk quite a distance just to get to the fire. Our needs are crew and aircraft. It’s all cutting and scraping the ground.”
Jeff Harter, CDF division group supervisor, said when they got to the fire at 11 a.m. Wednesday, it was at 500 acres. By 4 p.m., they had estimated that it had quadrupled in size. His division alone had five engines, two water tenders and were working 24-hour shifts.
“It’s making pretty aggressive progress,” he said.
Bruce Carey, of the Husong Deer Club located near the fire, was watching the fire from down the canyon.
“The heat was so intense that it felt like it was going to burn my face,” he said. “I couldn’t believe how fast it turned and ran up the canyon.”
To the deer club members’ knowledge, the area of Upper Quinto Canyon Creek, just east of the Santa Clara County line hadn’t burned in at least several decades.
Officials at Coe Park, which is threatened by three blazes between three and 10 miles away, are not evacuating campers and backpackers.
“So far this has not disrupted normal operations of the park,” Ranger Barry Breckling said.
On Tuesday, a lightning-ignited fire burned about one acre in the 87,000-acre state park.
No structures have been burned in any of the fires, which have been relegated mainly to brush and rural areas, CDF said.
Staff Writers Eric Leins, Marilyn Dubil and Photo Editor James Mohs contributed to this story.
