Two wildfires 90 percent contained
Four horses killed in blaze in Morgan Hill
SOUTHERN SANTA CLARA COUNTY » Two wildfires that ignited within about one hour of each other on Tuesday afternoon, threatening homes near the outer edges of Santa Teresa County Park and claiming the lives of four horses in Morgan Hill, are both close to being fully contained, a Cal Fire official said Wednesday morning.
The Hale fire, which was first reported at 2 p.m. near Hale Avenue just west of Monterey Road in Morgan Hill, destroyed three structures and killed four horses while burning about 51 acres, according to Pam Temmermand, a spokeswoman for Cal Fire. As of Wednesday morning, the Hale fire was 95 percent contained.
The Curie fire, which ignited around 3 p.m. about 10 miles north near San Ignacio Avenue and Curie Drive in South San Jose, charred 100 acres and was 90 percent contained as of 8 a.m. Wednesday, Temmermand said.
“We will have equipment out on that fire all day, continuing to mop up hot spots,” Temmermand said Wednesday morning.
The Curie fire resulted in evacuations Tuesday of Santa Teresa County Park, a girls camp and an IBM facility on Harry Road. Although homes were threatened as the blaze burned down the hill, flames did not get past a drainage area that runs near the bottom of the hillside, Temmermand said.
“The good thing was the fire didn’t get out of drainage,” Temmermand said. “It could have been much worse. The big thing, if you get wind on it, there is the possibility of embers being blown great distances, and that can cause so much havoc.
“It was just fortunate the way everything worked out.”
The timing of the two wildfires Tuesday within about one hour of each other stretched thin local Cal Fire resources, but the agency was aided by the San Jose and Santa Clara County fire departments.
At one point Tuesday, an estimated 100 firefighters battled the Curie fire with helicopters dropping water directly on the flames and air tankers dropping flame retardant to try to contain the blaze.
No injuries have been reported from either fire.
The cause for each fire remains under investigation.
Temperatures surpassed 90 degrees in San Jose on Tuesday, with steady winds of about 10-12 mph in the area pushing the fire south and east.
The blazes occurred amid the worst start to the California fire season in a decade.
Through Monday morning, 196,092 acres have burned across the state since Jan. 1 — an area seven times the size of San Francisco and more than double the average by July 9 of the previous five years — according to an analysis of federal and state fire statistics by the Bay Area News Group.
The drought from 2012 to 2017 appears to be behind the busy start. While it was ended last year by heavy rains, the historic dry spell killed millions of shrubs, bushes and trees, and now all that dead vegetation has dramatically increased fire risk, fire experts say. That has been exacerbated by the fact this past winter was drier than normal in much of the state, leaving the moisture levels of plants, shrubs and trees dangerously low.
Contact Mark Gomez at 408-920-5869, Robert Salonga at 408-920-5002 and Jason Green at 408920-5006.