No one was injured in a Saturday night fire north of Boulder Creek that consumed one home and spread throughout the surrounding natural area, authorities said.
The fire began around 8:30pm on Aug. 2 and grew to about a quarter-acre in size over the next couple hours.
Mark Bingham, the Boulder Creek Fire Protection District chief, said one of their battalion chiefs was among the first on the scene.
“The fire was established in three stories of the building—and was actually exiting the building,” he said. “The fire started in the exterior and spread to the structure.”
With the single-family dwelling already a total loss, firefighters concentrated on protecting the three adjacent houses. The nearby San Lorenzo Valley Water District hydrant played a big part in getting the blaze under control, Bingham added.
“We definitely had the benefit of an established water supply,” he said. “We laid 600 feet of supply line.”
By 2am, the fire had been extinguished. The cause remains undetermined; however, there’s no active investigation—as there isn’t enough of the house left to comb through for clues, Bingham explained. He estimates the flames did more than a million dollars’ worth of damage.
Boulder Creek firefighters were joined by those from Cal Fire CZU, Scotts Valley, Santa Cruz and Felton, as well as officials from the Santa Cruz Sheriff’s Office, Cal Trans and PG&E.
“While the structure was lost, crews worked hard to prevent the fire from spreading to neighboring property,” a Boulder Creek Fire spokesperson shared on Facebook.
Cecile Juliette, a spokesperson for Cal Fire CZU, said their firefighters were busy attacking the flames in the woodland.
“It was up a very narrow steep road and the forest was incredibly thick and overgrown with brush and trees,” she said. “There was dead trees and brush on the ground everywhere.”
At one point, a separate small fire broke out—likely due to an ember soaring from the main fire to flammable terrain. This was quickly quelled.
Cal Fire CZU Division Chief Sam Filson, who also oversees the Santa Cruz County Fire Department, said he’s pleased with the collaboration between the various agencies during the response.
“We’re always happy to assist the local departments,” Filson said.
Overall, the year hasn’t been as bad of a fire season as it could have been—at least here—he added.
“We have had a couple of local initial attack fires,” Filson said. “We’re able to get there and stop the spread really quick.”
After all, the weather’s been relatively mellow.
“We’ve had limited wind events; temperatures have not been too high,” he said, “and we’ve had good marine layer recovery.”
However, that doesn’t mean local residents are out of the woods quite yet.
“We’re expecting more heightened conditions going into the end of this month, as well as September and October,” Filson said. “Even though we haven’t had an extensive amount of local activity, we’ve still been assisting our neighbors.”
That’s meant pitching in over in Santa Clara and Monterey counties, for one.
“We’ve had resources go up and stage for lightning events in Northern California, and we’ve responded to fires in Shasta County, Tehama County and also Napa County,” said Filson, noting they also had multiple firefighters in southern Oregon, fighting a blaze in the Grants Pass area.
Filson urges local residents to do the necessary property upkeep to guard against future wildfires.
“We definitely want local residents to stay vigilant and keep up with their defensible space efforts around their homes,” he said, adding people should do their mowing before 10am. “It just has to be done earlier in the day.”
At the moment, Cal Fire has a strike team of engines at the Cal Fire Lake Napa unit and resources down in Southern California on the Gifford Fire.
For more information on wildfire prevention, visit readyforwildfire.org.
