Hot winds fan area wildfires

Wildfires singed foothill slopes and canyons Thursday, triggering scattered evacuations near Pollock Pines and kicking off an earlier than usual fire season.

"Here in the middle of May, we're seeing conditions that you might not see normally until the end of June," said Steve Goldstein, a fire weather specialist with the National Weather Service in Sacramento.

While no buildings burned and only about 130 acres were scorched near Oroville and Pollock Pines, the fires delivered a vivid reminder that today potential disaster is a spark away.

In El Dorado County, a nature camp sent schoolchildren home, and some residents were evacuated as a 67-acre blaze burned near the rolling, densely forested Sierra Springs neighborhood.

Not everyone left. Jackie Watt stood in her backyard as a water tanker thundered overhead.

"I had a strange feeling this morning," she said, when the dry wind signaled danger.

Watt had rushed home when her husband called to tell her flames were licking up behind their 1-year-old home.

On another side of the fire, Art Hernandez stood in his driveway up the slope from his home, watching the waning smoke over the treetops.

"We're packed, ready to go," he said. Hernandez had noticed sunlight disappearing and ashes raining down early on Thursday. Then a call came, telling them to to be prepared to evacuate, and he gathered up paperwork and valuables.

His home, overlooking a valley, is surrounded by forest, with pine trees brushing his siding.

"I think it's moving," he said of the fire, trying to gauge the smoke.

It wasn't moving much. By early evening, firefighters had contained the blaze.

Before the fire was corralled, Elk Grove and Galt youngsters had sadly headed home a day early from the Sly Park Environmental Education Center.

"We didn't want to take a chance with the kids' safety," said Phil Romig, the center's principal, who decided to evacuate 185 elementary and middle school students as a precaution.

"I was sad because I wanted to stay," said 11-year-old Beth Calhoun, a sixth-grader at McCaffrey Middle School in Galt. The campers had gotten to hold a snake and were supposed to go rock-climbing later Thursday, she said wistfully.

Two of Beth's friends were so disappointed that they cried, she said, and another McCaffrey student, 11-year-old Michael Roberts, said he was "kind of bummed" that he has to go to school today.

Isabelle Jackson Elementary School in Sacramento had 44 students sent home from the nature center, said Elk Grove Unified School District spokeswoman Elizabeth Graswich.

North of the El Dorado County fire, a 100-acre blaze charred steep canyons east of Oroville. Officials suspect it grew from an escaped fire set Tuesday by a landowner – and then not fully extinguished.

A small fire also erupted east of Healdsburg in Sonoma County, and another that began on Tuesday was still burning in the Angeles National Forest.

Fire crews had been in position Thursday, expecting a potentially rough day because of warm north winds and dry conditions, said Daniel Berlant, spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Firefighters attacked in El Dorado County, deploying four aircraft, 15 engines and about 200 people.

Thursday was a "red flag" day of elevated fire danger from the Shasta-Trinity National Forest all the way down to Sacramento. The warning was expected to be lifted by about noon today.

Two years of erratic rain and snow are likely to drive fire danger "a little above normal," said the weather service's Goldstein.

Grasses have dried out early, and trees and big shrubs, which respond to weather more slow- ly, are in "moisture deficit" because of previous dry years, Goldstein said.

Given the dryness, fire officials pleaded with foothills residents to clear brush away from homes and urged people to be especially careful with yard equipment and off-road vehicles.

"Ninety percent of our fires are human-caused," and equipment use is the main culprit, surging ahead of careless campfires, cigarettes or arson, Cal Fire's Berlant said.

Jackie Watt and her husband, Walt, were among those forced by building codes to take fire danger to heart.

Their recently built home has concrete siding and a fire-rated roof.

Its expansive lawn overlooks their forested, 11-acre vale, but a steep grade rises from the backyard to meet a line of trees. The fire-proofed grade is cleared of anything that could burn, creating a 100-foot "defensive" space around their house.

"In reality, you complain at the time about the cost," Jackie Watt said. But the measures paid off in peace of mind Thursday.

About the writer:

• Call The Bee's M.S. Enkoji, (916) 321-1106. Staff writers Stan Oklobdzija, Cathy Locke and Dave Richie contributed to this report.