Saratoga News

Photograph by George Sakkestad

Firefighters hose down the smoldering remains of the Hiatt house on Clifton Ave.

A wildfire sweeps the hills above Los Gatos

By Clarence Cromwell

Three families lost homes, hundreds of residents fled or were evacuated and county fire departments rushed 50 engines to Los Gatos when a wildfire burned 15 acres in the mountainous region southwest of downtown late last Thursday afternoon.

The fire snarled traffic for hours, left 4,500 PG&E customers without electricity and offered a spectacle for crowds who lined every downtown street within view of the smoking hills.

The houses that burned were at 115 and 125 Wood Road and at 100 Clifton Ave. Another home at 138 Wood Road sustained minor damage. A house at 98 Fairview Place lost its roof when embers floated up the hill from the main blaze. Flames also devoured three accessory buildings in the fire area.

Fire inspectors believe a falling branch caused power lines to arc and ignite the grass and brush along Highway 17 a few hundred yards north of the Cats Restaurant. From there, the fire burned uphill, fueled by heavy brush and hot, dry, 14 mph winds, with gusts up to 36 miles per hour.

A 911 caller reported the flames at 3:53 p.m. First, a California Department of Forestry fire engine and helicopter responded. The CDF called for more help and eventually got 200 firefighters on 50 fire engines. Every fire department in the county sent equipment, including the Saratoga Fire Department, which sent Engine 31 with three personnel to the scene shortly after the first call. "We were on an immediate mutual aid request," Brad Pike, a responding Saratoga Fire Department engineer, said.

The crew was stationed on Wood Road, protecting the Los Gatos Meadows retirement complex. Saratoga firefighters stayed on the scene until about 11:30 p.m.

Four CDF helicopters buzzed over the downtown Los Gatos area on trips between the fire and Vasona Reservoir. Six tanker planes bombarded the fire with orange clouds of fire retardant.

"They're a lifesaver," said Capt. Don Jarvis of the Santa Clara County Fire Department, explaining that the fire would have been much worse without the choppers and the planes.

Jarvis said the fire moved quickly because of the steep, overgrown terrain, strong winds, high mercury and low humidity.

"The winds blew off the hill, fanning the fire," Pike said.

Between 500 and 700 residents were evacuated from the hilly fire-area streets, including Wood Road, Broadway, Fairview Plaza, Manzanita Road and Wadsworth Ave.

Traffic along Highway 17 nearly came to a standstill for most of the afternoon, after fire officials closed lanes to make way for fire trucks. At one point, all lanes of the highway were closed for an hour in both directions. Traffic also became backed up in downtown Los Gatos and in Saratoga.

Deputies from the Westside Substation of the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department were part of a team of 30 county sheriff's deputies who assisted with crowd and traffic control, along with four Highway Patrol officers and one San Jose police officer.

Lt. Bill Slack of the substation said deputies were on the scene until about 10:30 that night. "That's basically when it started to settle down," he said. "In situations like that, you stage the traffic and try to take care of it any way you can."

About 240 evacuees were elderly residents of the Los Gatos Meadows, driven by ambulance to the lawn of Los Gatos High School. From there, they were transferred to hospitals, to The Terraces retirement home and to the First United Methodist Church of Los Gatos. The seniors didn't return home until the next day.

Red Cross volunteers set up a 100-cot shelter in the small gym at Los Gatos High School for those without a place to spend the night.

CDF crews, who fought in the hottest part of the blaze, didn't reach Wood Road in time to save the first two houses that burned.

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