The Abridged version:
- The nearly 900-acre Putah Fire in western Yolo County started as a prescribed burn before firefighters lost control.
- Fire officials said that the unpredictability and difficulty of the terrain contributed to the fire spreading.
- The fire, which is now mostly contained, is a reminder of the dangers that face this part of the county.
The dry grasses and steep hillsides west of Winters have burned before.
The area around the Putah Creek Canyon saw four separate wildfires between 2014 and 2017, combining to torch almost 30,000 acres.
Of those fires, three started near Highway 128.
“When we had those consecutive fires back-to-back, three of those started right off the road,” said CalFire deputy chief Ryan Isham.
In response, fire officials decided to reduce fire risk in the area by implementing yearly controlled burns beside the road, starting in 2018. During a controlled burn, firefighters intentionally burn land to prevent wildland fires from reaching a certain area.
This year, one of those burns got out of control.
After spreading up a steep slope and burning nearly 900 acres, the Putah Creek fire was mostly contained as of Friday. But Isham said the fast-moving fire shows the dangerous conditions in that part of Yolo County.
“We had the resources there, and that’s how fast the fire was able to grow in that amount of time,” he said. “That’s why this area is such a concern to us, and that’s why fires get so big there historically.”
Why now?
With cooler months through the start of the year, early June may seem like a risky time to intentionally burn a flammable landscape.
But Isham said that in an environment dominated by grass, firefighters have to wait for it to dry out.
“In May, the hills typically are still green, or they’re in that transitional period, right?” he said. “So we have to wait for the grass to cure for us to burn it.”
That leaves a very tight window for burning at the beginning of June before the threat level increases late into summer.
This year, that window was constricted even further by a red-flag wind warning that was set to start midweek. Fire officials canceled other planned burns in the area but determined that the Highway 128 burn was small enough to finish two days before the warning was set to begin.
“This one was just so small that we were going to try to capture that one in,” Isham said.
A suppression tool
Prescribed burning is a widespread fire suppression tool that agencies across the county use to reduce fuel buildup.
“Fire has been a natural part of California’s landscapes for thousands of years, and when applied under carefully planned conditions, beneficial fire remains one of the most effective tools for reducing hazardous fuels, improving ecosystem health and increasing landscape resilience,” said Bailey Adams, coordinator for the Yolo Prescribed Burn Association, in a statement.
CalFire has used the technique for years and Isham said that less than 1% of prescribed fires escape.
But the Putah Fire is a reminder of the unpredictable conditions in western Yolo County.
“We have not had a large wildfire since 2020, and this fire has reminded us how quickly wildfire conditions can change and will inspire us to keep working to reduce the risk of fire in our county,” said Tanya Meyer, Yolo County Fire Safe Council coordinator, in a statement.
Winters residents keeping watch
Debbie Hunter, secretary of the West Winters Fire Safe Council, lives just over the hill from where the Putah Fire was burning.
She said that when the fire started and evacuation warnings came through to the nearby Golden Bear neighborhood, some of her neighbors were on edge.
“Some of the community is upset,” she said. “It’s questionable whether they should do controlled burns in June.”
But then she saw the number of resources that CalFire dedicated to fighting the fire.
“I’ve never seen so many helicopters and drop planes,” she said. “It was incredible.”
Now that the fire is contained, Hunter said that some good may have come from it.
For one, with all of the grass burned on the other side of the hill, the risk of future fire is reduced.
“Now they have protection for the rest of the summer,” she said.
Also, more people have opened her emails about fire hardening their homes since the fire started. Last week, about 20% opened her messages. Now, closer to 50% are opening them.
“It’s not an emergency until it’s an emergency,” she said.
Daniel Hennessy joins Abridged from the California Local News Fellowship. He’s a reporter covering Yolo County.