One year after the Holy Fire finally was snuffed out, the United States Department of Agriculture has announced the burn zone, as well as thousands of acres in surrounding areas, will be off limits for at least another year.
The shuttered area includes more than 23,000 acres of charred mountains and canyons, as well as numerous dirt roads and trails. It reaches into both Orange and Riverside counties.
Flash flooding, debris flows, rolling trees and rocks, as well as unstable slopes, threaten buildings and people, warned Scott Tangenberg, supervisor for the Cleveland National Forest.
“The time frame of a closure normally includes the first season of precipitation,” Tangenberg acknowledged. But long-term drought coupled with extreme storms and denuded, steep slopes has left the large area especially fragile.
Massive debris flows
If you don’t recall much about the Holy Fire that straddled Orange and Riverside counties, here’s a quick primer from U.S. Forest Service officials:
“The Holy Fire was initially reported in Holy Jim Canyon on the west side of the Santa Ana Mountains in Orange County on Aug. 6, 2018 at 1:21 pm. After initial assessment, it was determined the fire was burning within Trabuco Canyon in an area with minimal fire history.
“Over 1,500 resources were dispatched to the fire, but due to high temperatures, steep rugged terrain, and very dry fuels, it ultimately consumed 23,025 acres by the time it reached full containment on Sept. 13, 2018. On Oct. 17, 2018, the Holy Fire was declared 100 percent controlled.”
Darrel Vance, head ranger for much of the Cleveland national forest in Riverside and Orange counties, this week said that debris flows – coupled with overflowing creeks and streams – were so damaging that for weeks there was a lengthy plume of ash in the ocean off Dana Point.
Closer to the fire, however, the destruction was far worse.
During a series of atmospheric rivers last winter, massive amounts of mud, boulders and broken trees cascaded into canyons and creeks. The remains of some cabins simply vanished. Other cabins are still visible, but destroyed.
In another area of Holy Jim, entire chunks of road were eaten away by rushing, debris-choked water.
“It was pretty spectacular,” Vance told me and, mind you, the ranger is a man not known for hyperbole. “The river completely changed course several times.”
And when it changed course, it carried tons more debris downstream.
“When people come back,” Vance said, “they will see things differently.”
Closure details
In both Orange and Riverside counties, Vance reported damage to wilderness areas was severe. But he also noted that combined efforts from scores of individuals, as well as governmental and volunteer agencies, helped mitigate problems.
Vance is not exaggerating. One year ago this month, I spent an evening in the community center in Silverado Canyon listening to experts discuss what loomed ahead.
I will add that in canyon country you learn fast or leave, and the term “experts” includes locals as well as officials.
Kevin McArthur, senior emergency management coordinator with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, that night discussed plans for worst case scenarios. In 1998 and 2010, he reported, water channels overflowed.
“But a debris flow after a fire,” McArthur dryly noted, “is much more dangerous.”
Evacuate when warned, McArthur said, or prepare to be homebound.
“We’re taking this threat,” added Orange County Fire Authority Division Chief Rob Capobianco, “very seriously.”
Precautions were heeded, and Vance reports that while there were several evacuations, no lives were lost. He also points out that while many structures were lost, 28 cabins survived.
On the Riverside County side, closures include nearly all of North Main Divide Road high on Saddleback Mountain and – lower down – a big slice of El Cariso Road, Indian Truck Trail and a portion of Long Canyon Road.
In Orange County, closures include Los Pinos trail, east and west Horse Thief trails, Holy Jim and Trabuco trails, and Trabuco Creek Road past the county line.
To check, I pedaled my mountain bike up the open part of Trabuco Creek Road earlier this week and, I’ll confess, hoped the rest of the road leading to Holy Jim was open.
No such luck – in a good way.
A massive locked steel gate, and giant signs in both black and red, make it abundantly clear that it is illegal to go any farther.
Debris flows that spilled over the top of bridges left numerous hazards and continue to endanger human life, Vance explained.
If you are skeptical about the need for closures, check out the evidence in wilderness areas that remain open.
In Orange County, and six miles downstream from the epicenter, I found chunks of rocks and trees that lay scattered near a concrete bridge on Trabuco Canyon Road.
Farther downstream, the landscape was nearly unrecognizable from what it was a year ago. Where forests once stood, I saw nothing but vast stretches of sand. Elsewhere, trees are broken, twisted hulks of wood.
With a smaller watershed, Riverside County fared better. But even there, mud and debris crept close to homes.
“It literally came down to people’s backyards,” Vance said of the flows.
If experts hadn’t cleared catch basins, storm drains and pipes, before, during and after rains, the district ranger said the damage could have been far worse.
Vandals battle steel gates
As Vance emphasized, forest officials are eager to reopen the area – but not until it is safe for vegetation regrowth, as well as for people.
In the past year, scofflaws have used tools, vehicles, even guns to damage the steel gates that protect the zone.
So, yes, heavier gates are being installed.
Please keep in mind that the only people allowed in the closure zone are road repair workers and cabin dwellers who have permits that allow them to drop by for maintenance and to keep their cabin area fire safe.
“They’re not there to recreate,” Vance said, “but to secure the property.”
Vance also volunteered that it appears there may be less rain this season than last, and that may help to reopen the area. But only time will tell.
Oh, and the man who is believed to have started the fire? He reportedly remains in custody and awaits trial.
