Top of the world at Henry Coe State Park - Lick Fire

Picture of Cal Hydro contract water tender at the Lick Fire

Cal Hydro Water Tender - Lick Fire Santa Clara County - Henry Coe State Park Filling a pumpkin at top of ridge B/C div break

Lick Fire: BURNING TRASH IGNITED HUGE BLAZE, PROSECUTORS SAY

Charge: Teacher started Lick fire

Story at: MercuryNews

By Sandra Gonzales and Leslie Griffy
Mercury News

Article Launched: 09/27/2007 01:33:33 AM PDT

It seemed harmless enough: burning a pile of paper plates inside a metal drum. And so Margaret Pavese stepped back inside her rural cabin, prosecutors said, not realizing she had unwittingly sparked what would become one of the biggest wildfires in the history of Santa Clara County.

Wednesday, prosecutors said the 50-year-old San Juan Bautista schoolteacher had been formally charged in the blaze and detailed for the first time how the tiny flames on her hillside property sprawled into a 47,760-acre wildfire that raged out of control for more than a week.

Three hours after she lit the fire, prosecutors said, she heard what sounded like running water and rushed outside, only to find the flames leaping from the barrel. She sprayed them with a garden hose, but to no avail. Without a phone and unable to find her car keys to get help, she grabbed the closest thing she could - a shotgun.

She fired three rounds into the air, hoping to alert her husband who was out chopping firewood, prosecutors said. Hearing the blasts, he returned to help her, picking up a garden hose of his own, but by then the blaze had already grown too big.

"I don't think anyone was going to fight this fire with a garden hose," said Frank Carrubba, Santa Clara County supervising deputy district attorney.

The blaze, which whipped through the steep canyons and rugged ridgelines of South County before moving into Henry W. Coe State Park, eventually cost the state $13 million to battle.

It's a price that Pavese may have to help bear if she is found to be responsible for starting the fire. A judge ultimately would decide how much she would pay, based on her income.

"She may have to pay the Department of Revenue for the rest of her life," Carrubba said.

Pavese, charged Tuesday with a misdemeanor count of failing to exercise reasonable care in the disposal of flammable materials to prevent causing an uncontrolled fire, also faces six months in jail and a $1,000 fine. She did not return calls Wednesday.

Carrubba said Pavese wet the area around the corroded, 55-gallon metal burn barrel, then loaded the paper plates inside it about 10:30 a.m. on Labor Day. She covered it with a piece of corrugated roofing and placed a rock on top, he said, then went inside her cabin.

Flames soon ignited grass that had been growing inside the barrel, Carrubba said, and the fire escaped and advanced up the hill into the heavy, thick terrain away from the cabin, at the end of Blue Ridge Road north of Henry W. Coe State Park.

Within hours, Pavese told Cal Fire investigators what had happened.

Carrubba said Pavese had failed to take proper care in several ways: Although she wet the area surrounding the barrel, she failed to clear it of any flammable liquid or vegetation, he said. She also used corrugated roofing instead of the required quarter-inch mesh to cover the barrel. And she didn't have a burn permit, he said. All such permits had been suspended in July because of dry conditions in the summer.

At one point, more than 1,800 firefighters were battling the Lick fire, named for its proximity to the Lick Observatory on Mount Hamilton. Nearly all of the fire was within the 88,000-acre Henry W. Coe State Park, an expansive landscape of oak woodlands and steep, dry chaparral.

Although the fire scorched thousands of acres, Assistant District Attorney David Howe said Pavese won't face felony arson charges because she did not intend to start the wildfire.

"She was and is extremely distraught over this," Carrubba said.

Lick Fire - Charges filed

San Juan Bautista woman charged with starting Lick Fire in
Henry Coe park

By Leslie Griffy
Story at Mercury News

A San Juan Bautista teacher could have to pay some of the $13 million cost of fighting a 47,760-acre fire sparked in early this month near Henry W. Coe State Park, the Santa Clara District Attorney's office said today.

Margaret Pavese, 50, allegedly started the wildfire that charred about one-third of the state's second largest park when she torched trash in an illegal burn barrel on her property east of Morgan Hill.

The blaze quickly touched off a fire in the nearby dry grasses and burned out of control for more than a week, said California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection officials.

Pavese met with fire investigators a few days after the blaze started, Cal Fire investigator Eric Wood said. When the Mercury News contacted property owners in the area about the fire, someone at the Pavese home in San Juan Bautista hung up after the reporter identified himself.

Messages left today for Pavese were not immediately returned.

She faces six months in jail and a $1,000 fine. A judge could also require her to pick up a portion of the bill for fighting the fire, Supervising Deputy District Attorney Frank Carrubba said.

While the fire burned many thousands of acres, Assistant District Attorney David Howe said that Pavese wouldn't face felony arson charges because she did not intend to start the wildfire.

She is being charged with one count of misdemeanor failure to exercise reasonable care in the disposal of flammable materials to prevent causing an uncontrolled fire.

Lick Fire - DC-10 drop

This is a professional quality video of a retardant drop on the Lick Fire by Tanker 910 The DC-10 Supertanker Firefighting jet. This video could be used as stock footage or a commercial for this amazing plane.
Great video job by Cal Fire News contributer - Photo1 productions

CASCU- Lick Fire - 100% contained - 47,760 acres

Lick Fire

LARGEST FIRE IN SANTA CLARA COUNTY IN MANY YEARS...Maybe largest in history?
The Canyon Fire was 34,217 acres last year, back in the thirty's there was a big one I hear tell, seem to remember one in the Mines road area about 2001 burned a lot of grass, Anyone have the answer?

Lick Fire Incident Information:
Last Updated:	September 11, 2007 7:45 pm	FINAL
Date/Time Started:	September 3, 2007 1:45 pm
Administrative Unit:	CAL FIRE Santa Clara Unit
County:	Santa Clara County
Location:	Henry Coe State Park, east of Gilroy
Acres Burned:	47,760 acres
Containment	100% contained - 47,760 acres Henry Coe State Park
Structures Destroyed:	4 residences and 20 outbuildings
Injuries:	9
Cause:	Human
Cooperating Agencies:	California State Parks, South Santa Clara Fire Protection District, Santa Clara County Fire Department
Total Fire Personnel:	868 (816 CAL FIRE)
Fire crews:	30 CAL FIRE
Engines:	46 CAL FIRE
Helicopters:	3 (1 CAL FIRE)
Dozers:	5 (1 CAL FIRE)
Water tenders:	10
Costs to date:	$10.2 million
Major Incident Command Team:	Incident Command Team #2
Conditions:	The fire is burning within the Henry Coe State Park in a remote location which makes access difficult. Local camp grounds and trails have been evacuated.
Phone Numbers	(408) 779-0930 (Lick Fire Information)