By Mike Martinez
Inside Bay Area (California)
Copyright 2006 MediaNews Group, Inc. and ANG Newspapers
All Rights Reserved
PATTERSON, Calif. — A wild-land fire raging in the hills between Santa Clara and Stanislaus counties has the potential to be one of the worst in the history of the California Department of Forestry’s Morgan Hill ranger unit, a spokesman said.
According to the latest numbers from the CDF, the Canyon Fire has charred almost 17,000 acres of grass land, cost more than $3 million to fight, and has destroyed eight structures, with another 80 residences and outbuildings — such as barns and sheds — threatened.
Erik Cohen, a CDF spokesman, said the fire was approaching Henry Coe State Park in Santa Clara Countyand the Isom Ranch winery, about 20 miles east of San Jose.
Cohen said the fire is scorching an area that hasn’t burned in more than 50 years and containment dropped from 45 percent Wednesday morning to 30 percent less than 12 hours later.
“The winds are very erratic now, blowing every which way,” Cohen said. “This is the biggest fire this ranger unit has had in a number of years. They’re hoping to stop it around 20,000 acres but it still has the (potential) for growth.”
Firefighters have been hampered by the steep terrain and lack of a consistent water source as high winds continue to fan the fire. Del Puerto Canyon Road has been closed to civilian traffic.
Nearly 1,800 firefighters are battling the fire, which began on July 9 about 4 p.m. Three people have been injured and the cause is still under investigation. The CDF was calling for voluntary evacuations in the active fire areas.
Meanwhile, a few miles north, the hills closest to Tracy are taking on a summer-season look: blackened by fire.
In the past few weeks, fires have burned about 10,000 acres around Tracy, more than half of that in a grass fire that burned out of control much of Tuesday. That fire closed parts of Interstate 580 for more than 3 hours.
No one was injured and no structures were damaged but three homes were threatened by flames whipped by winds up to 30 mph. The fire burned more than 6,400 acres of grassland.
The blaze reignited briefly Wednesday morning but was quickly contained by crews from the California Department of Forestry on “mop up” duty.
Tracy Fire Division Chief Andrew Kellogg said firefighters took an aggressive position on top of some rolling hills to protect the homes and property.
“It was a prevention issue to keep it from escalating,” Kellogg said. " (After protecting) one structure, then we went on to the next one.”
Meanwhile, the Altamont Commuter Express suffered through fire-related delays Wednesday morning after signals, tie and wires were damaged.
Mike Steenburgh, a spokesman for the San Joaquin Rail Commission, said train operators resorted to hand signals and restricted speed to between 5 and 10 mph. He said they alerted passengers in anticipation of the delays.
The first train was delayed about 45 minutes, the second train more than 90 minutes, and the third train, by virtue of the other delays, was more than an hour late.
“We can’t move until Union Pacific tells us the track is safe,” Steenburgh said. “They have to inspect the track and its condition. If any part is damaged, (trains) can’t go through.”
Crews from Livermore-Pleasanton, Alameda County Fire and other agencies in San Joaquin responded to the fire, dubbed the Midway Fire by the CDF.
Tracy Fire Chief Chris Bosch credited a model system being used in California allowing for neighboring jurisdictions to respond to incidents in “mutual threat zones.”
“We can mobilize faster than probably an other state,” Bosch said. “This is a system that’s already in place. We can coordinate for a specific response before we get there.”