Curtain Closes on ’97 County Fire Season

As Ventura County’s 1997 fire season came to a close Monday, officials were wishing it could have been even less eventful. In fact, if it were not for the 26,000-acre Hopper Canyon blaze in August, the county would have gotten off easy.

Unfortunately, fighting the fire near Piru cost more than $6.4 million and involved more than 1,000 firefighters, 12 helicopters and two air tankers.

“If it hadn’t been for the Hopper fire, we would have had a very wimpish fire season, which would have been good,” Ventura County Fire Department spokesman Joe Luna said.

Still, for a fire-prone county marked by rugged terrain and tinder-dry brush, escaping fire season with just one major blaze was welcome news to local firefighters, who cited recent rains and new vegetation as reasons to declare the fire season officially dead.

All told, 75 brush fires of a quarter-acre or more were logged from the start of fire season on May 15 through Monday. Officials said 26,400 acres were scorched.

Although that is well above the 200 acres charred in 1994, it is considerably less than the 85,000 acres that burned in 1993.

Fire officials credit stepped-up fire prevention and public education efforts for the moderate season, along with a dearth of the hot, dry Santa Ana winds that can whip a spark into an uncontrollable firestorm.

During the most volatile fire conditions this season, county fire crews roamed the county’s hot spots while fire crews stood ready in Somis, the approximate center of the county fire district.

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During the peak of fire season, a brush fire report would prompt dispatchers to immediately send five engines, a hand crew, helicopter and bulldozer.

As Santa Ana winds blasted the county last month, arson investigators were interviewing previous arson suspects and cruising past areas that arsonists might be tempted to torch.

Meanwhile, a task force of three engines and 12 firefighters were placed on standby in Somis, where from the fire district’s center they could quickly roll to any location in the county.

“We were really aggressive,” Luna said.

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Even when fires near residential areas did ignite, firefighters were aided greatly by homeowners who had cleared brush from around their homes, Luna said.

“I think the public is smart enough to recognize that if you live in the brush areas, you need to protect yourselves,” he said.

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Past Fires

Here’s the acreage in Ventura County burned in each of the past five years:

1997: 26,400 acres

1996: 12,000 acres

1995: 2,000 acres

1994: 200 acres

1993: 85,000 acres

Source: Ventura County Fire Department