Fire forecast: 100 percent containment by 6 p.m. Monday
the Whitehurst Fire rages on, fire approaches Day Road houses
Saturday night and Also with this story: a
The Whitehurst Fire, gobbling up chunks of thick forested mountainside high up in the Mt. Madonna area west of Gilroy, took center stage Sunday. By 9:30 p.m., however, firefighting efforts, aided by calm and cooler conditions, were paying solid dividends.
“We’ve got a line around it, and we’re pretty certain that the line’s going to hold that fire,” said Battalion Chief Paul Van Gerwen, a Cal Fire spokesman.
Containment stood at 50 percent, he said, and predicted that by tomorrow evening at 6 p.m., 100 percent containment would be declared after another day of air attacks.
Hecker Pass Highway, however, will likely remain closed for the day.
“There’s a lot of mop-up in that area,” Van Gerwen explained.
Though firefighters had their hands full with two, lightning-ignited blazes which began Saturday afternoon amidst freakish summer thunderstorms, both blazes were well in hand Sunday night without the loss of a single home, outbuilding or vehicle.
Residents scurried frantically to save their prized possessions and horses Saturday night before fleeing homes along Day and Watsonville roads as the Hummingbird Fire raced down the hillside.
As Sunday dawned, the Hummingbird Fire gave ground to firefighters, and by early afternoon it stalled at the 750-acre mark. Cal Fire reported the fire 40 percent contained at 4 p.m. and had the beast surrounded with a with a wide fire break cut by bulldozers.
There were no new containment figures at 9:30 p.m., but Van Gerwen said no fire crews were scheduled to leave the area yet.
The aerial assault continued on the Whitehurst Fire on the mountain all day Sunday.
At nightfall, no flames were visible on the mountain or on the ridges above Day Road. The smoke, which hung heavy over Gilroy all day, cleared with the shifting winds around dusk. Saturday night, four sections of the fire spurred on by high winds coursed through treetops during the night and burned all the way to Highway 152 between Sprig Lake and Pole Line Road. Hand crews were running hose lines near those spots Sunday.
“We’re not seeing the erratic fire behavior that we saw Saturday,” said Daniel Berlant, the initial Cal Fire Information Officer assigned to the scene. ” The fire is staying mostly on the ground. It’s not coursing through the canopies of the trees,” he said Sunday afternoon, cautioning that the wind could pick up and change the dynamic. Given “the terrain and the heavy, heavy fuel,” he described the situation as fluid.
A helicopter’s staccato thumping pierced the air all day as it made its way back and forth from a pond on the Cordevalle Golf Resort in San Martin dipping for water to douse both the fires alternately.
Three air tankers based in Hollister joined the battle flying fire retardent missions high in the sky.
Ground crews, meanwhile, lit a backfire to save one home on Day Road Sunday afternoon, jumping up from a rest break as the flames made a last-ditch charge.
That no structures were lost “is really a testament to their hard work,” said Berlant. “They did a great job.”
Susan Mister, who lives on Burchell Road a short distance from Day Road, summed up the weekend chaos.
“When I was driving down Day Road, I just got this queasy feeling in my gut. It was overwhelming, not only the smoke, but seeing the horse trailers moving through so slowly – you just knew in your heart that some of these homes were going to be gone,” said Mister, recalling the Saturday night scene.
The Cal Fire spokesman lauded Day Road residents for paying attention to fire safety basics.
“Many of them were aware and definitely made sure they had good defensible space around their homes. That was certainly a factor that allowed firefighters to make a stand,” Berlant said.
He cautioned residents not to worry if they spot more smoke Monday morning.
“People are going to wake up and see the smoke plume early in the morning,” said Berlant, “but it’s a planned operation. We’re going in in the morning when the winds are low and humidity relatively high to burn the area contained in the fire break.”
Berlant said 15 to 20 acres need to be burned in a tightly controlled environment with plenty of fire crews on hand to prevent further outbreaks.
Residents in the area remained under a mandatory evacuation that will likely last through Monday morning, Berlant said. This morning, residents with identification were allowed to go back to their homes to retrieve medications and necessities. The evacuation area included two streets off Watsonville Road, Calle Celestina and Calle Ciello.
Both Watsonville and Day Roads, however, were reopened Sunday evening and it was unclear whether the evacuation remained in force.
Saturday night, Gilroyans, many with horse trailers in tow, fled from the rapid flames of the Hummingbird Fire which came perilously close to their homes and animals while lighting up the night sky with a dense orange glow. Firefighters wove in and out of Day Road driveways trying to find avenues to head off the conflagration.
“Somehow we were able to move the fire around those homes,” said Berlant. He reported this morning that the two fires – the Hummingbird Fire and the Whitehurst Fire near Mt. Madonna – had scorched nearly 1,100 combined acres.
He contrasted the character of the two fires, saying that the Hummingbird Fire spread rapidly through grass and brush while the Whitehurst Fire is feeding on more substantial fuel.
Fresh crews from the Los Angeles area arrived Sunday giving a substantial boost to containment efforts, Berlant said. After exhausting shifts, firefighters are retreating to the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds for food and rest, he said. The base camp had already been set up for fighting a fire that began late last week in Watsonville.
Heavy growth in the redwood-forested slopes of Mt. Madonna fueled the Whitehurst Fire eruption, said Berlant. He likened the fire to the Summit Fire which erupted less than a month ago in the Santa Cruz mountains.
Lightning strikes started both fires, and a third which firefighters contained in short order.
Hundreds of residents who evacuated throughout the night Saturday did so voluntarily until the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Department required evacuations north of Day Road shortly after midnight, according to a deputy on the scene.
The American Red Cross opened a shelter in a gym at Live Oak High School at approximately 10 p.m. Saturday. Six volunteers set up the shelter with cots and supplies from the organization’s warehouse as well as donations from the community.
Starbucks donated coffee, and several neighboring families came in with donations or offering to help.
Two volunteers remained at the shelter overnight, with more coming in Sunday morning to help. Morgan Hill City Manager Ed Tewes checked in Sunday morning to see if anything was needed, according to volunteers. Bill Brecheen, Red Cross volunteer, said one family came in Saturday night with three children, as well as one couple who ironically were Red Cross volunteers.
The family and the couple left the shelter Sunday morning; Brecheen said volunteers had been told to expect other evacuees Sunday afternoon, but by 1 p.m., none had arrived.
George and Denise Brown, who have lived on Devries Court at the end of Parrish View Drive for three years, walked into the Live Oak gym Sunday afternoon to find out if they could return to their home. They did not stay at the shelter Saturday night but stayed with friends.
The Browns said they believe divine intervention made possible the safe evacuation of their two dogs, two cats and 12 chickens. Denise said they were away from home most of Saturday, returning home just before 6 p.m. to see the smoke billowing over the ridge, but no flames.
“It was very smoky, we were a little uneasy, but not really worried until later,” she said. “We could tell there were two fires, could see the smoke billowing over the ridge.”
About 9 p.m., Denise said, they could see flames coming up on top of the hill.
“We knew we needed to do something, but we didn’t know what,” she said.
“We went out on the back patio and prayed. We asked God to help us figure out what to do. We didn’t know what to do with the animals. And at that point, we hadn’t been told yet to evacuate, but we wanted to be sure the animals were safe.”
Not five minutes after she and George prayed together on the patio with the flames creeping closer, good friends from their church, the Foothills Foursquare Church in Gilroy, pulled up into their driveway in their truck with pet carriers and cages.
The chickens and dogs were loaded up and taken to their friends’ home on the east side of U.S. 101, and the Browns returned to their homes to pick up their cats.
“Our cats really hate the carriers, so we had planned to take them with us and go stay at a former neighbors’ home, but when we got back to our house, the police had already been there to tell us to evacuate,” Denise said.
The cats were safely evacuated, and the couple spent the night with former neighbors who live on Santa Teresa Boulevard.
“It was just amazing how it happened,” Denise added. “We didn’t know what to do, and then Barbara and Richard showed up. They said God had told them they needed to help us.”
George said he and Denise had been back to their home Monday, and there was power and water and everything was safe.
“Lots of smoke, but our home is fine,” he said.
Saturday night, Khalid Reynolds stood on the side of Day Road watching the fire line, arms crossed in the headlights of his Ford truck. He had just returned from dropping his two horses off in San Martin after picking them up from a stable down the road that holds about 45 horses. Residents reported scrambling to find enough horse trailers, and cars and trucks hauling the animals continually squeezed past each other along Day and Watsonville roads.
Houses up and down Day Road showed signs of vacancy. An empty dog cage sat in one home’s driveway while a wisps of smoke emanated from the ground, and a small flame flickered on a fence post.
“I’m on my way to check and see if my friends up on Watsonville Road are all right,” said Reynolds, adding that he had never seen such a wild fire so close to Gilroy before.
“It’s creepy,” said Cheryl Ordemann, as she and her mother stood in their backyard watching flames crackle only two hundred yards away.
“I’ve never seen it this close before,” said Carolyn Helstup, Ordemann’s mother and a resident of 2815 Day Road for more than 20 years. “You never think it’s going to be in your backyard.”
The family spent the earlier part of their day fighting bumper to bumper traffic on Day Road to move their five horses up to South San Jose and out of harm’s way. Although they hadn’t received mandatory evacuation orders as of midnight, they didn’t plan on getting a wink of sleep.
“We’ll probably just stay here,” Ordemann said of her post near the property’s back fence. “We’ll stay up and watch it all night if we have to.”
Kathleen Peterson, a Day Road resident, wrapped up evacuating 35 horses just past 11:30 p.m. The fire is right across the street, she said by phone, about 50 feet away.
“I just hope it doesn’t take our old house and the barn,” she said as she prepared to flee.
The origin of the fire, Hummingbird Lane off Watsonville Road, leads to Clos La Chance Winery which is perched on a hill overlooking the Cordevalle Golf Resort. All guests at Cordevalle were evacuated according to Adam Lopez, night manager at Cordevalle. The resort has 45 rooms.
Winding Day Road, which stretches between Santa Teresa Boulevard and Watsonville Road, became a chaotic maze as firefighters competed for road space with onlookers who drove to witness the blaze. Police officers from various agencies, including Gilroy and the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s office, began to restrict traffic about 10:15 p.m.
The fires started Saturday afternoon, when long spears of lightening sparked the two fires. Daniel Howland, who has lived on Whitehurst Road for 20 years with his wife and son, said he saw that fire start.
“We were watching the lightning, then all of a sudden we saw a puff of smoke'” he said on the phone from his home. He called 911, then watched as the flames, about two miles from his home began to consume wildland.
“Whoa, there goes another one'” he added as another lightning strike hit. “We’re thinking about starting to pack stuff.”
Firefighters set up a command post at Mount Madonna Inn at the top of Hecker Pass shortly after 2 p.m. The steep terrain forced the battle to be fought mostly from the air. A helicopter could be seen dropping water on the fire. By 3 p.m., the fire burned out of control and was being fought solely from the air with helicopters and planes dropping water and fire retardant. Smoke could be seen against the eerie dark gray clouds from the city.
Park rangers evacuated the campsite at Mount Madonna County Park at 3 p.m., and were searching for at least three unaccounted for hikers.
One of those was Louise Elliott’s husband Lance. The couple drove from San Jose to hike the Sprig Lake Trail about 2 p.m.
“We could smell the smoke, then we started hearing the thunder, then we saw the helicopters'” she said. She decided to turn around, but her husband continued “walking our dogs.”
All of the hikers were found and safely evacuated from the park.
Temperatures fluctuated wildly Saturday. The mercury quickly reached the century mark, then fell precipitously to 80 degrees as the clouds gathered and gusty winds coursed through South Valley. The lightning came in the midst of a heat wave, with temperatures hitting a high of 104 in Gilroy before the clouds arrived. The temperature was 86 degrees at 2:30 p.m., with wind gusts reaching 26 mph, as measured at St. Mary School.
An 11-year resident of Thousand Trails near the intersection of Watsonville and Uvas roads said as she returned home about 2 p.m. she could see flames in the hillside west of the park, but that it appeared out at 3:20 p.m.
“This one is way closer'” Nancy Walton said, referring to the Croy Road fire that burned 3,127 acres in the hills west of Morgan Hill in September 2002. A total of 34 homes were lost, six were damaged and more than 65 were saved in that blaze.
However, by 9 p.m., the fire had grown to 50 acres, and some residents were being evacuated, and homes were threatened.
According to the National Weather Service, an area of thunderstorms developed off the central California coast late Saturday morning and moved northeast, producing the lightning strikes.
The National Weather Service issued a dry lightning warning, which remained in effect until 11 p.m. Saturday and covered the entire Bay Area and Santa Clara and San Benito counties.
Dry lightning refers to thunderstorms which produce no rain that reaches the ground. The term is a technical misnomer since lightning is obviously not wet in any instance, and also because the thunderstorms which are so named actually do produce precipitation, although it does not reach the ground.
The most recent blazes come on the heels of an already busy fire season. The Summit Fire, which began May 22 and took nearly a week to put out, charred more than 4,200 acres. In early June, the Martin Fire burned 520 acres and destroyed 11 buildings in the Bonny Doon community in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The so-called Trabing Fire is the third major blaze to hit Santa Cruz County in the past month. It broke out Friday and has burned about 630 acres in Watsonville near the airport and was 90 percent contained Saturday morning, and full containment was expected later in the day.
Wildfires sparked by lightning storms are burning in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest near Redding, in far northern California.
Forest Service Spokesman Michael Odle says none of the fires are immediately threatening homes. The fires began overnight Friday. They now range from less than an acre in size to more than 750 acres. Strike teams moved in Saturday on the two largest fires. One is burning near Junction City, the other near LimeDyke Mountain.
More than 20 smoke jumpers – firefighters that parachute into remote areas to battle wildfires – have been deployed.
Farther south along the coast, firefighters were battling a 50,000-acre wildfire burning in a remote part of the Los Padres National Forest in southern Monterey County. The Indians Fire, which started June 12 about 10 miles west of King City, was about 50 percent contained Saturday.
For up-to-date information on shelter locations, contact the American Red Cross Santa Clara Valley Chapter at (408) 577-1000.
Residents should contact CAL FIRE at (408) 779-0930 for information on whether their homes are in an evacuation area.
Reporters Sara Suddes and Marylin Dubil, City Editor Robert Airoldi, and Online Editor Christopher Quirk contributed to this article.
