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Santa Teresa Park Fire, 7/10/18 by Ronald Horii
At around 3 pm on 7/10/18, a grass fire started in the hills of Santa Teresa County Park, near the corner of San Ignacio Avenue and Curie Drive. See the news reports below for more details. They say that 100 acres burned, but no buildings were damaged. The park has 1673 acres, so less than 6% burned. The Muriel Wright Center and IBM's Almaden Research Center were evacuated as a precaution. Several roads were closed temporarily.
This afternoon, I was watching a news report about a fire in the Coyote Valley. I was getting ready to go up to Coyote Peak in Santa Teresa Park to see if I could see that fire from a safe distance. Just then, I read a post on Nextdoor about a 1-acre grass fire at the corner of San Ignacio and Curie. I thought about it for a second and realized that could be in Santa Teresa Park. So I jumped in the car and drove down Cottle Road. I could see the fire in the hills, and it was a lot bigger than 1 acre. I knew there would be a lot of emergency rushing to the area around Curie Drive, so I avoided it. I parked next to the Albertson Parkway several blocks from Curie and rode my bike down the trail. That's where these pictures start. I biked and walked around the neighborhood outside the park to take them, being very careful not to interfere with the firefighting efforts or get close to the fire.
Calfire incident report: http://www.fire.ca.gov/current_incidents/incidentdetails/Index/2129
News reports:
https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/07/10/grass-fire-breaks-out-in-south-san-jose/
http://www.ktvu.com/news/grass-fire-burning-in-morgan-hill-smoke-seen-for-miles
https://www.nbcbayarea.com/on-air/as-seen-on/RAW-VIDEO_-Brush-Fire-Near-Santa-Teresa-County-Park_Bay-Area-487826271.html
https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2018/07/10/san-jose-grass-fire-evacuations/
http://abc7news.com/100-acre-fire-near-san-jose-park-prompts-evacuations/3740281/
Santa Teresa County Park map: https://www.sccgov.org/sites/parks/parkfinder/Documents/Santa-Teresa-map.pdf
This wasn't the first fire in Santa Teresa Park this year. There was a 16-acre fire at the southeast corner of the park above the archery range on 5/27/18: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1829207883769392.1073742401.100000405933924&type=1&l=7dd185eb0e
The last time there was a major fire in this part of the park was in October of 2005: http://www.stpfriends.org/STPFire-10-05/STPFire10-05.html
As a likely consequence of the destruction of their habitat, wild pigs living in the hills of the park invaded the neighborhoods below: http://www.stpfriends.org/Pigs/STP-Pigs.htm
Hopefully, it won't happen again, but neighbors should take precautions if they don't want their yards roto-tilled by the pigs.
At around 3 pm on 7/10/18, a grass fire started in the hills of Santa Teresa County Park, near the corner of San Ignacio Avenue and Curie Drive. See the news reports below for more details. They say that 100 acres burned, but no buildings were damaged. The park has 1673 acres, so less than 6% burned. The Muriel Wright Center and IBM's Almaden Research Center were evacuated as a precaution. Several roads were closed temporarily.
This afternoon, I was watching a news report about a fire in the Coyote Valley. I was getting ready to go up to Coyote Peak in Santa Teresa Park to see if I could see that fire from a safe distance. Just then, I read a post on Nextdoor about a 1-acre grass fire at the corner of San Ignacio and Curie. I thought about it for a second and realized that could be in Santa Teresa Park. So I jumped in the car and drove down Cottle Road. I could see the fire in the hills, and it was a lot bigger than 1 acre. I knew there would be a lot of emergency rushing to the area around Curie Drive, so I avoided it. I parked next to the Albertson Parkway several blocks from Curie and rode my bike down the trail. That's where these pictures start. I biked and walked around the neighborhood outside the park to take them, being very careful not to interfere with the firefighting efforts or get close to the fire.
Calfire incident report: http://www.fire.ca.gov/current_incidents/incidentdetails/Index/2129
News reports:
https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/07/10/grass-fire-breaks-out-in-south-san-jose/
http://www.ktvu.com/news/grass-fire-burning-in-morgan-hill-smoke-seen-for-miles
https://www.nbcbayarea.com/on-air/as-seen-on/RAW-VIDEO_-Brush-Fire-Near-Santa-Teresa-County-Park_Bay-Area-487826271.html
https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2018/07/10/san-jose-grass-fire-evacuations/
http://abc7news.com/100-acre-fire-near-san-jose-park-prompts-evacuations/3740281/
Santa Teresa County Park map: https://www.sccgov.org/sites/parks/parkfinder/Documents/Santa-Teresa-map.pdf
This wasn't the first fire in Santa Teresa Park this year. There was a 16-acre fire at the southeast corner of the park above the archery range on 5/27/18: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1829207883769392.1073742401.100000405933924&type=1&l=7dd185eb0e
The last time there was a major fire in this part of the park was in October of 2005: http://www.stpfriends.org/STPFire-10-05/STPFire10-05.html
As a likely consequence of the destruction of their habitat, wild pigs living in the hills of the park invaded the neighborhoods below: http://www.stpfriends.org/Pigs/STP-Pigs.htm
Hopefully, it won't happen again, but neighbors should take precautions if they don't want their yards roto-tilled by the pigs.
23 Likes15 comments
Judy Fenerty and 22 others like this.
Marilyn August
Thanks for the pictures, I hate to see fire in our Park! I also walked over and took a few pictures
6 yrsReport
David Poeschel
Thanks, Ron,you always come through with amazing photographs. I used to live in the neighborhood with my brother Robert Poeschel and noticed our next door neighbor's house in one of your photos.
6 yrsReport
Ronald Horii
This morning's news said the fire is 90% contained. Trail Watch volunteers are being mobilized to keep people off the trails until it's safe.
6 yrsReport
Susan Rodriguez
Thanks for sharing. I hike those hills and hate to see the area on fire like that. So thankful it wasn't worse
6 yrsReport
Sharon Lum
Thanks for the pictures! I completely missed it yesterday. I just walked my dog around the neighborhood perimeter. I saw a couple of firefighters on the Norred Trail looking for hot spots. There were still about half a dozen SCC Parks and CalFire trucks at Bernal School. A fire truck was at the Heaton Moor trailhead entrance.
6 yrsReport
