A stranded sailor started a grassfire on Santa Rosa Island after using a flare to alert rescuers, officials said.
U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Ventura
LATEST May 18, 9:55 p.m. The National Park Service has issued another grave update on the Santa Rosa Island Fire, a human-caused conflagration that’s now torched more than a quarter of the beloved, second-largest island within Channel Islands National Park.
Over 70 firefighting personnel have responded to the blaze, which has grown to nearly 14,600 acres since it started on Friday morning. The fire has burned through the habitat of the Torrey Pines, some of the rarest pine trees on Earth, according to the National Park Service. And while the fire remains 0% contained, it has also been deprioritized due to mainland wildfires such as the Sandy Fire in Simi Valley, which has burned more than 1,300 acres, destroyed at least one home and forced thousands of evacuations.
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“Today new wildfires ignited on the mainland which immediately became the priority,” the Park Service’s incident overview states. “Per policy, firefighting resources are always assigned based on the greatest threats to life, safety, and property. This prioritization helps ensure that the most urgent needs are addressed first during rapidly evolving fire activity.”
Mike Theune, the Park Service’s information officer for the fire, told SFGATE he had “not heard” if any resources were diverted from Santa Rosa Island. But apart from what resources have been available, the logistical challenges in fighting a rapidly-growing wildfire on a remote, difficult-to-access island are significant, Theune said. So although crews focused Monday on protecting the Torrey Pines, which exist only on Santa Rosa Island and in a small nature reserve in San Diego, they were unsuccessful.
“Unfortunately, the fire has reached the Torrey Pines area on the east side of the island,” the incident overview states. “Upon initial assessments, fire crews are observing that the fire intensity was low and that the stand remains intact. When safe to do so, a fire effects crew will be assigned to make a full determination of condition and any long-term effect.”
On Monday, strong northeast winds produced gusts over 30 mph on the island, according to the incident overview. Still, fire crews managed to create defensible space around structures on the northeast side of the island and prep roads for confinement operations, the report states. On the southwest side, firefighters are working on improving defensible space around the lighthouse at South Point and establishing an anchor point to build more containment line.
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“It just demonstrates a dedication by our wildland firefighters that we’re going to go out there, we’re going to find a way to get out there, we’re going to do everything that we can,” Theune said.
Winds should die down on Monday evening, according to the Park Service, and on Tuesday, additional firefighters, UTVs, fire hoses and pumps will be arriving on the island, the incident overview states. “The incident management team is also working on getting specialized wildland fire engines onto the island by midweek to engage in the firefighting effort,” it concludes.
Former Channel Islands National Park superintendent Russell Galipeau told SFGATE via phone that he’s been following the news of the fire closely since it started, with deep concern for the island’s natural and cultural resources. When he learned that officials are planning to bring fire engines to Santa Rosa, he was pleased. But he also wondered, “Why is it taking this long?”
He fully supports prioritizing human life and property, but doesn’t understand why the newly formed Wildland Fire Service doesn’t seem to have adequate resources available for multiple Southern California fires.
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He’s hoping that enough thought goes into the operation of that heavy equipment on a relatively fragile island with many locations that are challenging to reach. He also wants people to realize that the Channel Islands don’t see much fire – during the 15 years he was the superintendent (2003 to 2018), there was just one from a lightning strike, he said, and it burned only a couple of acres before smokejumpers put it out.
The island’s ecosystems are different from the fire-tolerant ecosystems on the mainland, he said, and they’re home to plants and animals that exist nowhere else on Earth. “This is why this is not a time for the Park Service or any of the federal agencies to be downsizing science,” Galipeau told SFGATE. “These are times we need to step it up and say, okay, what can we learn from this fire?”
May 18, 6:08 p.m. A sailor stranded in Channel Islands National Park started California’s largest wildfire of the year so far after he set off a flare following a sailboat crash on Santa Rosa Island on Friday, according to a post from the U.S. Coast Guard.
The 67-year-old man was stranded after his sailboat ran onto the rocks of Santa Rosa Island. The man was stranded overnight before rescue swimmers reached him the following morning at about 10:30 a.m. Images from the scene show he had written “SOS” in the charred grasslands.
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“The sailor fired emergency flares to signal for help, which inadvertently sparked a wildfire that grew to 1,000 acres by Friday afternoon,” officials from the U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Ventura said in a post.
Gale-force winds helped a wildfire spread quickly across Santa Rosa Island, destroying two historic structures.
U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Ventura
Over 70 firefighting personnel have responded to the blaze that has scorched 14,600 acres since it started. More firefighters were expected to arrive Monday after the gale-force winds seen over the weekend finally weaken, but Monday evening, the fire remained at zero percent containment. No injuries have been reported in the fire, but two historic structures on the island, Johnson’s Lee Equipment Shed and Wreck Line Camp Cabin, were destroyed in the blaze.
A map of the Santa Rosa Island fire as of Monday evening.
National Park Service
Santa Rosa Island, one of five islands within Channel Islands National Park, is located about 26 miles from the California coast and is home to six native plants that exist nowhere else in the world.
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Mike Theune, the National Park Service’s information officer for the fire, told SFGATE that firefighting personnel are focusing on protecting the Torrey pines area, as satellite imagery showed fire within half a mile of the rare species.
“The Torrey pines are a very unique species. They’re very old,” Theune told SFGATE. “They’re found naturally only two places in the United States: on this island and also in San Diego.”
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Theune said other structures, including the Vail & Vickers Ranch historic district, are also threatened by the blaze.
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The island’s 53,000 acres are mostly grassland and sandy beaches with a few groves of trees. The island is largely uninhabited, though the National Park Service has employee housing there. Eleven parks staff members were evacuated from employee housing by the Santa Barbara County Fire Department via helicopter on Sunday.
This news story has been updated.