CA-CZU- ORMAN? Boulder Creek Wildfire yesterday

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

CA-CZU- ORMAN? Boulder Creek Wildfire yesterday

Boulder Creek wildland blaze a reminder that fire season isn't over

Jennifer Squires - Sentinel Staff Writer
Santa Cruz Sentinel - Link

BOULDER CREEK -- Firefighters quickly extinguished a quarter-acre fire Tuesday afternoon, but the small blaze gave residents north of Boulder Creek quite a scare.

Fire officials said the blaze serves as an important reminder that the fire season is not over, even though the three major wildfires in the county this year burned in May and June.

"This is pretty normal for us until there's any significant rain on the ground," Cal Fire Battalion Chief Kay Price said Tuesday. "We're not out of any danger."

Price said September and October are the months that typically carry a high fire risk in the region, as well as in other parts of the state. A wildfire burned most of Angel Island in San Francisco earlier this week and "strike teams" of firefighters from the county have been sent to blazes in Napa and Los Angeles counties this month.

Tuesday's fire, which started at 2:20 p.m. off Dorrance Road, began near a hot tub and spread to a nearby structure before burning up a steep slope between several homes.

Dispatchers called for a full wildland response and firefighters credited fire retardant drops with keeping the blaze under control until crews got to the scene and extinguished it.

"We made a full attack of the whole thing and were able to knock it down," Price said. "It could have been a lot worse."

Early on, sheriff's deputies and highway patrol officers went door-to-door to evacuate homes on five surrounding roads, and the county's equine rescue group removed horses from the area.

The evacuation order was quickly lifted, but residents were still shaken.

"I was in town and I knew I had to come back," Dorrance Road resident Erin Blackworth said.

A member of the equine rescue got her four horses out, but she drove in to her property to rescue her dog, Zoe. Blackworth said her family has lived in Boulder Creek for years, but recently moved to Dorrance Road, which is off Bear Creek Road. They worry about the threat of wildfire.

"We're trying to clear the forest around us," she said.

-------------------------
IA: 14:20hrs - 480 ORMAN RD, BOULDER CREEK

No comments:

How fires get their names

Every year in California thousands of wildfires start throughout the state. In most cases, the dispatch center sending the initial resources to a wildland fire will designate a name for the fire, but the first on scene engine or fire official can also name the incident. Fires are usually named for the area in which they start – a geographical location, local landmark, street, lake, mountain, peak, etc. Quickly naming the fire provides responding fire resources with an additional locater, and allows fire officials to track and prioritize incidents by name. For example during the Southern California Fire Siege of 2003, the largest wildland fire in California history, the Cedar Fire in San Diego County, was named after the Cedar Creek Falls area where it started. The destructive Old Fire, which burned during the same time period in San Bernardino County, was named after the road along which it started - Old Waterman Canyon Road.

CAL FIRE is the largest fire department in California and the second largest fire department in the United States. CDF - CAL FIRE Firefighters answer the call more than 300,000 times a year. CAL FIRE Firefighters make up the fire department for 30 of our 58 counties in California and more than 100 local communities. We serve as the incident command during many of California’s most serious disasters. CAL FIRE Firefighters respond to many various types and forms of calls ranging from structural fires, to auto accidents, to earthquakes, to floods, to the spilling of hazardous materials, to every conceivable disaster; CAL FIRE answer's the calls. CAL FIRE is the largest fire department in California and the second largest fire department in the United States . CAL FIRE firefighters protect 33 million acres of State Responsibility Area (SRA). We have over 4,000 members within CAL FIRE and CAL FIRE is associated with the California Professional Firefighters (CPF) and the International Association of Firefighters (IAFF).

CFN - CALIFORNIA FIRE NEWS - CAL FIRE NEWS

Wednesday, October 15, 2008