10/19/2023 0 Comments Cal fire map santa cruzHowever, given unfavorable conditions, fire has the potential to spread to unmanageable proportions. The majority of fires within San Mateo County are small, less than an acre, mostly due to early detection, large suppression response and favorable weather. The proximity of homes to flammable landscapes can be a potentially dangerous situation in the event of a fire.” 2018, Community Wildfire Protection Plan, Santa Cruz and San Mateo In many instances, the resulting landscape is overgrown with a variety of species in a variety of different age classes. The result is an ever-increasing land base that is often void of disturbance, whether by wildfire or resource harvesting. This philosophy has influenced the management of parks, open space, and private land holdings. “Since the 1970s, there has been increasing public pressure to preserve local natural features. These communities are the most at risk for wildfire. In total, San Mateo has 14,704 homes within the WUI. San Mateo County has 39 square miles of wildland-urban interface (WUI), according to a 2010 survey of counties in the western US by Headwaters Economics Institute. In more recent years, with fire suppression, the introduction of exotic plant species, and inadequate forest management, uncharacteristically high fuel loads have developed throughout San Mateo County. Before European occupation, smaller fires would burn forest understory, leaving large old-growth redwoods untouched, and fire prevented shrubs and Douglas fir from encroaching grassland. Historically, the Santa Cruz Mountains would have burned on a decadal basis creating a patchwork of burned and unburned areas. However, looking back on the history of fire on a landscape can provide clues to prevent catastrophic wildfires in the future.ĭue to local topography, fuels (forest, chaparral and grasslands) and certain weather conditions, the Santa Cruz Mountains are conducive to periodic large wildfire events. The reasons behind the severity of the more recent fires are diverse and complex. In more recent years, historically large and destructive fires like the Camp Fire, Tubbs Fire and the Mendocino Complex have brought fire to the forefront of every Californian's mind. Fire has been part of the California landscapes for millennia. History of Fire in the Santa Cruz Mountainsįire is nothing new to San Mateo County and to California as a whole.
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