We’re on a boat that headed to Santa Rosa Island, a part of Channel Islands National Park off the Santa Barbara, and Ventura County coastlines.
It’s windy, and wet, but everyone is on deck as we approach the island. It was hit by an 18,000 acre plus wildfire which charred more than third of it. The blaze burned for nearly three weeks before it was fully contained.
As we approach the north side of the island, some National Park staff members are shocked by the sight of the blackened mountain slopes.
"It definitely looks different. It's hard to look at," said Emily Zivot, who is the park’s Acting Chief of Interpretation. While the fire is contained, the concern now is about how much damage was caused to cultural and natural resources on the island.
"The island is home to a lot of endemic species, plants and animals found here that are found nowhere else in the world," said Zivot. She cited as examples the Island Fox, and several species of plants.
As we land on the island, and start walking up a trail to the campground, things look normal at first. It’s windy, but the area around the dock didn’t burn, and some historic ranch buildings were saved.
"We're walking towards the perimeter of the fire, where firefighters used some roads and trails to stop the fire from coming into some of the park service infrastructure, the ranger headquarters, employee housing, the stuff that keeps this island running," said Kelly Singer, who is a Deputy Fire Chief with the U.S. Wildland Fire Service. He managed the firefighting effort, which wasn’t easy considering the blaze was on an island 40 miles from Ventura by air, and more than two hours away by boat.
"We knew logistics was going to be a challenge," said Singer. "Getting our firefighters out here, and then supporting those firefighters wasn't easy." About 150 firefighters were involved with battling the blaze, which started May 15.
Singer said firefighters had to deal with rugged terrain. And, there was extreme wind, especially during the first few days of the fire. "The flame lengths that were coming off of the chaparral were 20 to 30 feet. It's really tough to go direct (on the fire) with hand tools with something like that," said Singer. "We're limited on the equipment we had out here. It's not like you can just order up five bulldozers."
Singer says between air tankers, backfires, and ground crews they contained the fire before it could reach the island's main infrastructure. Three small buildings were lost. As we approach the island’s Water Canyon Campground, we see charred hillsides.
"You can see where fire actually slopped over the fire line, and made a run up this hill," said the firefighter. "You can see some of the hand line those goes from the road, which we call an anchor point, up to the top of the ridge. So, that was all done by hand, ground crews working up the slope (to stop the speread of the flames)."
The hills around the campround are charred, but it came though the blaze virtually intact.
The fire was contained June 4. The cause is still under investigation.
The last of the firefighters have left Santa Rosa Island, but there’s a team of specialists here now to try to determine the damage to natural and cultural resources.
"The BAER team arrived on the island three days ago, so this is just our third full field day," said Sasha Trivalio, who is with what’s called the Burned Area Emergency Response Team, or BAER team. "They're in the data collection process right now, and they'll be giving that data to the park staff, to help plan for the future."
One of the big concerns is over the island’s Torrey Pine trees. It's one of only two natural groves in the world. The fire swept through the grove, but most of the trees are still standing. Experts are assessing how many will survive.
Because the extent of the damage to the island, and what will be needed for remediation are still unknown, it's closed to the public indefinitely.
"Recovery at this point is a big TBD (to be determined). We're waiting to hear back from the Burned Area Emergcy Response Team, combing all over the island with their own experts to get a ful assessment on what kind of damage has been done. From there, we make a plan, and figure out what we can do," said Ethan McKinley, who is Superintendent of Channel Islands National Park.
"There's no doubt that this will leave years of impact and recovery ahead of us," said McKinley. It's the biggest wildfire on what of the islands in the park's history.
As we leave the island, it’s hard not to be affected by seeing so much of charred landscape, But, it’s also heartening to see that most of the island was unaffected by the inferno.
