Wolf Fire

Wolf Fire
The Wolf Fire's smoke plume, taken by NASA's Terra satellite on June 6, 2002
Date(s)	June 1, 2002 (2002-06-01) – June 14, 2002 (2002-06-14) (14 days)
Location	Ventura County, California, United States
Coordinates	34.609°N 119.365°W / 34.609; -119.365
Statistics
Burned area	21,645 acres (8,759 ha; 34 sq mi; 88 km2)
Impacts
Non-fatal injuries	3
Structures destroyed	6
Damage	$15 million (equivalent to about $24.3 million in 2023)
Ignition
Cause	Firearms
Map
The footprint of the Wolf Fire in the Los Padres National Forest north of Ojai, California
The general location of the Wolf Fire in Ventura County, California

The Wolf Fire was a large wildfire in Southern California's Ventura County, north of Ojai, in 2002. The fire was ignited by careless use of firearms for target shooting in dry grass on June 1, and it burned 21,645 acres (8,759 hectares) and destroyed six structures before it was completely contained on June 14. The cost of containing the fire came to $15 million. No fatalities or serious injuries occurred, but the fire impacted large parts of the Sespe Wilderness, threatening Native American cultural sites and impacting the habitats of several vulnerable species.

http://npshistory.com/morningreport/2002/06-06.htm

https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/9684/wolf-and-copper-fires-near-los-angeles

https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/9686/wolf-and-copper-fires-near-los-angeles

https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/2513/wolf-and-copper-fires

https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/9688/wolf-and-copper-fires-near-los-angeles

https://www.newspapers.com/image/774927893/?terms=wolf%20fire

Background

Southern California received very little rain in the winter and spring leading up to the Wolf Fire, marking a fourth year of drought there. Vegetation moisture levels were very low and fire activity was consequently elevated. Fire officials declared the beginning of fire season in mid-April in much of Southern California, including Ventura County, a month before the usual date.

Cause

The Wolf Fire began shortly before 3:00 p.m. PDT on June 1, approximately 100 feet (30 m) from the Wolf Grill restaurant, an establishment located on California State Route 33 roughly 12 miles (19 km) north of Ojai in the Los Padres National Forest. U.S. Forest Service investigators later determined, bolstered by the eyewitness accounts of members of a bicycling tour group, that the fire was ignited unintentionally by people shooting at an abandoned van in dry grass and brush adjacent to the restaurant. No suspects were identified or arrests made.

Progression

As soon as the fire broke out, patrons at the bar attempted to alert authorities by phone, but were unable to for lack of any cellular service in the area. A motorcyclist eventually alerted fire crews at a Forest Service fire station twenty minutes' drive north, but they did not arrive at the scene of the fire until forty minutes after it had ignited.

The fire, originating in the main stem of the Sespe Creek drainage and benefiting from warm, dry, and breezy conditions, entered dense chaparral vegetation in rugged terrain and grew quickly. Despite the efforts of seven aircraft (air tankers and helicopters) and ground crews, what had been roughly a 30-acre (12 ha) fire at 3:00 p.m. expanded to 200 acres (81 ha) by 5:00 p.m. and 450 acres (180 ha) by 9:00 p.m. At one point, the fire jumped across Highway 33 and forced officials to close the highway between Rose Valley and Pine Mountain Summit. No evacuation orders were issued.

That portion of Highway 33 remained closed on Sunday, June 2 as the Wolf Fire moved east along the highway between Pine Mountain and Chorro Grande Canyon. Embers carried the fire across Highway 33 at 11:00 a.m. As the fire progressed it destroyed three abandoned horseback camping buildings. By the end of the day the fire had burned approximately 2,500 acres (1,000 ha) and it was five percent contained. A spokesman cautioned that the fire had "extreme" potential for growth and that firefighters did not think they could contain the fire in Chorro Grande Canyon with their available resources, but that they hoped to keep it out of the Matilija Wilderness and Sespe Wilderness to the south and east respectively.

On Monday, June 3 the fire entered the Sespe Wilderness. Winds out of both the southeast and northeast encouraged spot fires. The 18-mile (29 km) portion of Highway 33 remained closed between Rose Valley and Lockwood Valley. Firefighters retained a defensive footing, noting that they could not get in front of the fire even as they planned to keep it within a box bounded by Cherry Creek and Pipeline Road to the west, Dry Lakes Ridge and Rose Valley Road to the south, Sycamore Creek to the east, and Pine Mountain Ridge to the north.

On Tuesday, June 4, the fire expanded to about 7,500 acres (3,000 ha) with 15 percent containment after burning north through the Derrydale Creek drainage. Firefighters struggled through temperatures of 90 degrees F° and a relative humidity of under ten percent, which in combination with the dry vegetation led to flame heights of 100–300 feet (30–91 m).

The incident management team (IMT) assigned to the Wolf Fire (in this case, California IMT 4) established a main camp in Soule Park in Ojai itself, supplied with bathroom facilities, a kitchen, and tents, from which to manage the multi-agency fire suppression effort. From there, many firefighters were flown in to the remote flanks of the fire, and others made do by hiking in several miles on foot. Many personnel worked shifts of more than 30 hours at a time in hot, windy weather. Fire officials told the Ventura County Board of Supervisors to expect the fire to burn for another week, and the director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) noted that the Wolf Fire was low on the priority list for firefighting resources, given the lack of a significant threat to life and private property.

On Wednesday, June 5, the fire burned northeast towards and then along Pine Mountain Ridge. As the fire neared the Sespe Condor Sanctuary, special permission was granted for bulldozers to operate in the Sespe Wilderness where such heavy machinery is normally prohibited by federal regulations. Firefighters used the opportunity to construct a 6–10-mile (9.7–16.1 km) containment line on the southern end of the wilderness area, between the fire and the sanctuary. By the end of the day the Wolf Fire had burned more than 10,000 acres (4,000 ha) and remained 15 percent contained. Then, overnight, the fire ran hard to the east. It traveled about six miles (9.7 km) through the Sespe Wilderness, roughly doubling in size to just shy of 20,000 acres (8,100 ha).

Beginning on Friday, June 7, the weather became less conducive to fire growth: the higher temperatures and winds abated, and moisture from the nearby marine layer made its way to the Wolf Fire. The fire's forward progression slowed, and by sunset fire officials were calling the fire 25 percent contained. Between June 8 and June 9, the fire grew by only 55 acres (22 ha). Firefighters succeeded in keeping the fire south of Pine Mountain Ridge and north of Sespe Creek, minimizing the threat to more developed areas. Four hundred firefighters rappelled in to an inaccessible part of the fire on the northern slope of Pine Mountain Ridge, spending multiple days completing containment lines there with hand tools. One battalion chief with the San Bernardino National Forest opined that but for the change in the weather, the Wolf Fire could have burned to Interstate 5 to the east.

Late on Monday, June 11, the fire had burned approximately 21,300 acres (8,600 ha) and was 60 percent contained. Hundreds of firefighters were released from their assignments as the number of personnel ticked down from 2,000 to about 1,100. Containment increased to 85 percent on June 12.

The Wolf Fire was declared fully contained on Friday, June 14, 2002. The cost of containing the fire amounted to $15 million, or roughly equivalent to $24.3 million in 2023.

The Wolf Fire burn footprint later acted as a barrier to spread for the 162,702-acre (65,843 ha) Day Fire in 2006.

Effects

Three firefighters were injured, including two who were taken to a hospital with heat exhaustion and dehydration on June 4.

The Wolf Fire destroyed six structures, four of which were unoccupied ranch buildings and two of which were outbuildings for a vacation home. The Wolf Grill restaurant itself was not damaged in the fire.

The entire Sespe Wilderness was closed, as were multiple campgrounds, including those in the Pine Mountain and Rose Valley regions. Highway 33 re-opened on June 6.

Cultural resource impacts

The Wolf Fire threatened more than 200 petroglyphs or pictographs, as well as other artifacts, left behind by the Chumash native people more than five thousand years before the fire. Forest Service archeologists conducted multi-week surveys in the month following the fire, assessing damage (and the degree of vulnerability to looting) at both known and previously unknown Native sites. The chief archeologist for the Los Padres National Forest told the Los Angeles Times that at least some "ancient rock art [which included] depictions of day-to-day life among the Chumash" had been damaged by smoke or soot. In the November after the fire, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) published a white paper written by "former cultural resources staff and volunteers" with the Los Padres National Forest. The PEER report alleged that "the fire and bulldozed fire lines severely damaged known prehistoric sites", including the Piedra Blanca rock art site, and that fire personnel and archaeologists had not taken adequate care to avoid damaging sites during fire break construction or forestall fire/smoke damage at them by installing protective measures.

Environmental impacts

Forest Service biologists were also concerned about the fire's impacts on habitat for the arroyo toad and southern steelhead trout species populations in addition to the Condor Sanctuary. The Wolf Fire burned 12 percent of the entire Sespe Creek watershed. The fire was of sufficient severity to be stand-replacing in upland chamise-manzanita stands as well as adjacent white alder-coast live oak stands in the Piedra Blanca Creek drainage.

The fire burned at a high enough elevation that its smoke did not infiltrate local communities, though ash from the fire drifted southeast and reached the coast and Simi Valley.

Growth and containment

Fire containment status Gray: contained; Red: active; %: percent contained;

Date	Area burned in acres (ha)	Personnel	Containment
June 1	450 acres (182 ha)	...	0%
June 2	2,500 acres (1,012 ha)	914 personnel	5%
June 3	6,000 acres (2,428 ha)	...	10%
June 4	7,476 acres (3,025 ha)	1,234 personnel	15%
June 5	10,644 acres (4,307 ha)	...	15%
June 6	19,788 acres (8,008 ha)	...	15%
June 7	20,795 acres (8,415 ha)	>1,100 personnel	25%
June 8	20,795 acres (8,415 ha)	...	40%
June 9	20,850 acres (8,438 ha)	>1,500 personnel	40%
June 10	21,278 acres (8,611 ha)	...	...
June 11	21,278 acres (8,611 ha)	1,100 personnel	60%
June 12	21,278 acres (8,611 ha)	1,200 personnel	85%
June 13	...	...	...
June 14	...	...	...
June 15	21,645 acres (8,759 ha)	...	100%

Fire containment status Gray: contained; Red: active; %: percent contained;

Date	Area burned in acres (ha)	Personnel	Containment
June 1	450 acres (182 ha)	...	0%
June 2	2,500 acres (1,012 ha)	914 personnel	5%
June 3	2,500 acres (1,012 ha)	...	5%
June 4	...	...	...
June 5	...	...	...
June 6	...	...	...
June 7	...	...	...
June 8	...	...	...
June 9	...	...	...
June 10	...	...	...
June 11	...	...	...
June 12	...	...	...
June 13	...	...	...
June 14	...	...	...
June 15	21,645 acres (8,759 ha)	...	100%

See also

• Glossary of wildfire terms
• List of California wildfires