Prescribed fire escapes near Watsonville, CA, evacuations ordered

Mapped at 83 acres Saturday morning

9:17 p.m. PDT Oct. 16, 2021

At 6:17 p.m. Saturday CAL FIRE revised the reported size of the Estrada Fire, increasing it from 83 acres to 148, saying the new number was the result of “accurate ground truthing and mapping.”

Firefighters will again work through the night Saturday to establish strong control lines.


11:09 a.m. PDT Oct. 16, 2021

Estrada Fire map
Estrada Fire map. The red dots represent heat detected by a satellite at 2 a.m. PDT Oct. 16, 2021.

A prescribed fire intended to treat 20 acres grew out of control Friday, prompting evacuations in Central California.

The project was initiated by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection near the intersection of Hazel Dell and Hidden Canyon Road six miles northeast of Watsonville, California. After escaping the planned burn unit boundary it spread quickly, growing to 83 acres by Friday evening, when CAL FIRE said aircraft had established a line of fire retardant around the perimeter.

“Ninety-nine percent of the time these things go off without a hitch,” said Ian Larkin, CAL FIRE Chief for the San Mateo Santa Cruz unit. “No problems, they don’t get out of control, they don’t jump our containment line…The reason we did this yesterday was we had a prescription level of good weather, it was in prescription, and it was an ideal situation for us to be able to get good consumption of the fuel, and we just had this mishap. It was about 80 to 100 feet of tying it all in and we had a spot take off across the line.”

At 7:17 Saturday morning CAL FIRE said crews made significant progress overnight.

Estrada Fire
Estrada Fire, seen by the Mt. Madonna camera at 4:10 p.m. Oct. 15, 2021, looking southeast.

Evacuation orders were still in effect at 10:48 a.m. PDT October 16. (Evacuation map)

The video below, at 0:50, shows a fire whirl that is persistent, in spite of the water being applied from a fire hose.

Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Pat.

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Author: Bill Gabbert

After working full time in wildland fire for 33 years, he continues to learn, and strives to be a Student of Fire.

9 thoughts on “Prescribed fire escapes near Watsonville, CA, evacuations ordered”

  1. Who cares? CalFire is getting fire on the ground. That’s what we need. Bummer, 130 bonus acres. Not really a big deal in the big picture. California needs a lot more of that.

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  2. Gee, another escaped “prescribed burn’ in predicted high winds. What a surprise. And only 1 in 10 of these intentionally set fires go out of control? Not reassuring. And who pays for this fire? Surely not a welfare rancher.

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  3. I would not want to be the subject of the conference call Monday morning from Sacramento that begins, “Just what in the hell were you thinking”. Calls like that can definitely ruin ones day. As it should.

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    1. Amen!…..The reason you are a old captain is you did not receive those phone calls, that said, “What the Hell were you thinking!” By the way… Old Captain could you come back and start retraining personal?

      Enjoy your time.. Old Captain!! You earned it.

      Iceman

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  4. It should be noted, the Estrada Fire property is owned by retired CALFire Battalion Chief Greg Estrada. I am a property owner adjacent to the ranch. The weather was not favorable for the burn and had wind 15-20 mph blowing off shore in the morning. We also experienced, high temps and very low humidity. CALFire has done an excellent job at suppressing the threat with a huge costly air assault. A Supertanker from Sacramento was even called in. This fire was a huge waste of resources, that could have been easily avoided. The ranch has had cattle on it for years, is logged regularly, and by no means is neglected or needing critical fuel reduction. The prescribed burn was in a steep ravine filled with coyote brush, flaked by eaten down pasture. Embers ignited a grove of redwoods in the next ravine causing immediate torching and off it went. I am not sure how this burn was ever even contemplated or approved by CZU CAL Fire, besides being a favor.

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  5. If the “fire ecology” goal is healthier forest lands, low intensity fire is key. It’s clear the minimum moisture levels were not present in the soil, the foliage, the air… In order to achieve low intensity fire, especially in areas that are replete with diseased and dead trees from bark beetles and drought, thinning and mulching is and will be an essential prerequisite. Ecologists will decry thinning, whine that it tears up the soil and destroys the biomass, but so does wildfire. The conversation needs to change. They need to think regenerative restoration. Thinning with spider excavators, tree spades, feller bunchers, reduces the effects biomass disturbance. Mulching adds nutrients back to the soil, suppresses invasive species, makes eradicating the bark beetle more likely, and together thinning and mulching helps create the ground cover environment necessary for “fire ecology” to actually work.

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    1. The “mulching” I’ve seen done by the USFS, leaves behind perfect ember-producing fuel. “Thinning” means felling mature trees (merchantable timber) that are far less likely to burn and leaving the second-growth ladder fuels to burn, not to mention the slash and dead stumps/roots that end up smoldering for weeks, months, despite thorough “mop-up” operations.

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  6. RE: prescribed fire
    Another brilliant plan —-failed. Why are they starting any fires in CALIFORNIA at this time of year?

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