Sep 25 2002 12:00AM By By TARMO HANNULA OF THE REGISTER-PAJARONIAN |
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A dense curtain of smoke mixed with ash draped over Pajaro Valley during the night as a 1,600-acre fire continued to burn west of Morgan Hill in the Santa Cruz Mountains. As the sun broke through the orange and brown haze this morning, more than 1,000 firefighters were expected to attack the fire from the ground and the air. About 50 homes were being threatened. Monday evening, numerous residents along the 7900 block of Croy Road, which is in Uvas Canyon County Park, about five miles west of Morgan Hill, voluntarily evacuated their homes. The fire started about 2:30 p.m. Monday and by 4 p.m. a giant plume of smoke formed over the ridge east of Watsonville. The smoke was reportedly visible from Monterey and Oakland. Local fire departments were plagued by calls from people reporting drifting smoke around Watsonville and Corralitos. The California Department of Forestry, which is heading up the fire fighting operation, called for strike teams from as far away as Napa and Lake counties and called for air support from four helicopters and six air tankers. Twelve bulldozers are on the scene and as many as 60 fire engines. A strike team from San Mateo/Santa Cruz Unit (including an engine crew from CDF at Corralitos) responded Monday to the incident. The mountainous, dry terrain in heavily carpeted with manzanita, poison oak and tinder dry oak trees and grass. Clusters of pine and eucalyptus trees were also inhaled by flames as the unpredictable blaze charged along the ridge top. Kathy Schmitt and her family, who own a spacious older style wood home near 7900 Croy Road, got the word to clear out late Monday afternoon. They loaded their family cars with photographs, framed artwork, documents and other valuables. "I can't believe this is happening; it just doesn't seem true," said Schmitt. "I mean, all this could be gone in the morning." Signs posted along Watsonville Road depict the area as extremely dry with high fire warnings. Several outbuildings were reportedly burned but as of 10 a.m. today no homes were reported to have been burned. "People in this area know how to stick together - we have to," said Augie Guardino, who runs his family's fourth generation water well company in the area. Guardino sent his work crew home and raced up and down Croy Road in his company truck offering help to neighbors and providing information about the fire. "I know a lot of these people up here and I'd do anything to help," he said. Guardino contacted CDF officials at a staging area to offer 40,000 gallons of water to replenish water tankers. The cause of the fire is unknown. Only minor injuries to two firefighters have been reported. The large amount of smoke was proving to be a serious obstacle for air tanker pilots. Numerous Watsonville residents woke this morning to discover a layer of ash blanketing their vehicles and porch decks. As of 10:30 a.m. the fire was reported to be about 10 percent contained.
It's just watch and wait for us," said Anne Borelli, who clung to a fence with her family at the Croy Road home watching the wall of smoke. "If they say we have to leave, we'll have to leave."
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