By Demian Bulwa and Vanessa Hua
The San Francisco Chronicle (California)
Copyright 2006 The Chronicle Publishing Co.
All Rights Reserved
More than 2,000 firefighters and support workers dug fire lines Sunday around an estimated 85 percent of the Canyon blaze burning in thick brush in remote Stanislaus County about 20 miles east of San Jose, and officials predicted full containment by 5 p.m. today.
Agency investigators, meanwhile, asked for the public’s help in identifying the cause of the fire. They are looking to talk to anyone who may have seen a person or a vehicle between post markers 12 and 13 on Del Puerto Canyon Road at about 4 p.m. last Sunday.
That’s the general area where the fire started, said Henry DeKruyff, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
“We’re asking if people saw anything suspicious. It’s all ranchers up there, and they know who’s normally running up those roads,” DeKruyff said.
On a hot and windy day, the fire burned through steep and largely inaccessible terrain toward the south fork of Orestimba Creek west of Patterson. It was scorching dense brush that has not burned since 1947.
“There’s a lot of brush and undergrowth,” DeKruyff said.
Southeast of the blaze, which had burned 32,933 acres by Sunday night, firefighters were enlarging their fire lines by setting controlled burns.
“They’re cleaning off all the little islands that didn’t burn.” DeKruyff said. “They need to make sure it doesn’t spark up. The winds have been a real problem.”
The fire destroyed 11 residences and five outbuildings, and damaged one home and another five outbuildings. Nine firefighters have suffered minor injuries such as sprains and heat exhaustion.
The state Department of Forestry estimated the cost of fighting the blaze at slightly more than $11.9 million. A wildfire is contained when a safe perimeter of lines has been established.
In Southern California, more than 3,300 firefighters working approximately 20 miles northeast of Palm Springs were trying to surround the combined Sawtooth and Millard fires that have killed one person and injured 15 others. The estimated cost of fighting the combined fires, which have burned from Yucca Valley to the San Bernardino National Forest, is nearly $17 million, forestry officials said.
The Sawtooth fire — which has burned through 61,700 acres so far and is 70 percent contained — has destroyed 50 residences, 8 mobile homes, 13 garages, and 150 outbuildings. A dozen residences were damaged, along with 171 outbuildings.
The Millard fire has burned 20,214 acres and is 20 percent contained. No buildings have been damaged or destroyed because the fire is burning in wilderness.
Elsewhere in the San Bernardino National Forest, thunderstorms ignited a 10-acre fire. Firefighters dumped retardant from airplanes around the blaze, said Norma Bailey, a spokeswoman for the National Forest Service.
“We’re actively working to keep those fires from spreading any further. We’re just worried about winds and thunderstorms,” she said.