Emergency responders were dispatched just after 7 a.m. Monday to a vegetation fire off Buzzard Lagoon Road near The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park, about 4.8 miles from the South County enclave's community center. Narrow, winding roads required use of an Alma Helitack 614 helicopter and additional aircraft that dropped water and fire retardant. Only Type 3 engines could reach the scene; other crews hiked about half a mile and took 1.5 to two hours to reach the blaze. The fire burned heavy timber, brush and duff but light winds helped crews limit it to under 2 acres with no structures damaged or injuries. Six days earlier, firefighters contained three nearby fires; 36-year-old Isaac Tayrien was arrested.
According to an incident report from the Cal Fire CZU San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit, emergency responders were dispatched just after 7 a.m. Monday to a vegetation fire off of Buzzard Lagoon Road, which runs close to The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park. The road is approximately 4.8 miles from the South County enclave's community center that is home to various events and community gatherings throughout the year.
The rural road narrows as it meanders deeper into the hills and eventually turns into a system of trails. As a result, an Alma Helitack 614 helicopter from Cal Fire's Santa Clara Unit was called in and began to aggressively make water drops while also communicating to crews on the ground where the fire erupted. Additional helicopters were called in to douse the flames with enormous buckets of water alongside a fixed wing aircraft that blanketed the landscape with red fire retardant.
Because of how slender the roads are in the region, only Type 3 fire engines - built to traverse rugged, off-road terrain - were able to access the fire. Other crews on foot were forced to hike a half mile from Buzzard Lagoon Road to access the incident and didn't come face to face with the blaze for about 1.5 hours to two hours as a result.
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