Fire in the Santa Cruz Mountains (Hardwear Sessions)

By Cynthia Houng

View Photos from the San Francisco Chronicle

Early Thursday morning, a wildfire broke out in the Santa Cruz mountains, in an area about sixty miles south of San Francisco. By Thursday night, the fire consumed had consumed over 3,200 acres. (See a map of the fire.) The fire spread quickly, fed by gusty winds (over 45 mph). Due to the hot and dry conditions, high winds, and high fuel loads, firefighters believe that it will be a few more days before they can contain the fire, but today's milder winds gave them fresh hope that the ordeal may end earlier.

Here in Richmond, about 100 miles from the fire, we can see faint traces of smoke. This morning a soft brown haze hung in the air, and I thought I could smell something like burning wood.

The weather has everyone on edge, as the Summit fire could very well happen anywhere--even in our backyard. (We are only a few miles north of the area that burned in 1991, in the Berkeley-Oakland firestorm.)

Living in California means living with fire--and drought. California's ecosystems are "fire regimes." Under natural conditions, these landscapes tend to burn every few years, clearing the landscape of dead brush, downed trees, and other sources of fuel. Fires are most frequent during our dry summers. May marks the beginning of California's fire season, which tends to last through September or October--or until the first rains start to fall. In recent years, however, due to fire suppression, fuel loads have built up to critical levels, and today's wild fires tend to burn hotter--and fiercer. The Summit fire was hot enough to burn even concrete.

California's fire season started early this year, with fires in the Santa Cruz mountains and in Southern California. "The fuels are near record levels of dryness for this time of year," Cal Fire Battalion Chief Jeff Millar (of Calaveras County) said to the San Jose Mercury. "We're in for a long summer."