Angel Island blaze caused by people, fire officials say
By: Will Reisman
Examiner Staff Writer
October 16, 2008
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| Firefighters battle hotspots of a wildfire Monday, Oct. 13, 2008 on Angel Island in San Francisco Bay. Rugged terrain and difficulty transporting equipment across the San Francisco Bay complicated efforts to corral a 250 acre wildfire that started Sunday evening on the island. The 740-acre island is the largest in San Francisco Bay and is home to many historic buildings, including an immigration station that was the first stop for many people coming to the U.S. in the early 1900s. (AP) |
SAN FRANCISCO — The blaze that consumed more than half of Angel Island State Park and took 43 hours to contain appears to have been started by human activity.
Fire officials have ruled out natural causes in the blaze, which first ignited about 8:30 p.m. Sunday night and raged until Tuesday afternoon, according to Mike Giannini, Battalion Chief of the Marin County Fire Department.
Giannini said the Marin County Fire Marshall, who is leading the investigation into the blaze, has ruled out “natural causes” — such as downed electrical lines or machine malfunctions — for the fire’s eruption.
“Through the process of exclusion we’re able to say that a person on persons was involved in the cause of the fire,” Giannini said.
He said the department is going to continue interviewing people that were on the island, in the hopes that the information will lead to an identifiable person involved in the origin of the fire.
There were 29 campers on Angel Island when the fire broke out Sunday night. The fire started in an area between two campgrounds on the east side of the island.
About 20 park rangers, maintenance crews and family members live on the island full-time.
Angel Island State Park Supervisor Dave Matthews said the fire was “unfortunate, but it’s what we have to deal with in modern times.”
Matthews said the majority of fires started in urban parks — like Angel Island — are human-caused.
The blaze burned 380 acres of the 740-acre island, the largest in the San Francisco Bay. Nearly 400 firefighters fought the blaze, which was finally contained Tuesday at 4 p.m. None of the 120 historic structures on the island, which include Civil War-era army posts and an immigration station, were harmed by the blaze, but a large portion of the flora on the island’s highlands were destroyed.
Matthews remained upbeat about the future of the island, saying that fires are a natural process in the regeneration efforts.
“If our resources managers had it their way we would have controlled fires on the island, but this acted in much the same way,” said Matthews. “Fire has a positive effect when done properly.”
Matthews said the effects from the last fire on the island — a 25-acre blaze in 2005 — were not noticeable one year later.
The park, which receives approximately 170,000 visitors annually, will have a limited re-opening on Monday, Matthews said.
The area of the island below the perimeter road will be open to the public, but the various hiking trails on the higher levels of the island will be closed due to safety concerns, said Matthews.
Matthews said specialists are surveying now to determine when the burned areas will be safe for visitors to return. Only one animal on the island — a raccoon — is confirmed to have died in the blaze.
