Homeowners near Edgewood Fire grateful for efforts of local fire crews
SAN MATEO COUNTY -- Mop-up from the Edgewood Fire in San Mateo County continued Wednesday in the wake of two fires in the Emerald Hills area near Woodside and Redwood City.
Neighbors told KPIX 5 they first heard a pop before their power went out at their homes. Then they began to smell and see smoke from those fires.
Tracy Corner is looking for two things Wednesday afternoon: power for her phone and air conditioning. The most important thing, her home of over three decades on Rocky Way is still standing.
"I didn't come back until midnight last night and I didn't know if there would be anything here. All the crews were all night working hard. Everybody was on this hill," Corner told KPIX 5.
Residents evacuated and neighbors pulled together to evacuate the many horses in these hills, including 36-year-old Fudgie, who is safely at a barn in Woodside Wednesday.
"The first thing in a fire, everybody is like, 'Get the horses out! Get the horses out!'" said Corner.
The outage was reported at 2:20 pm. The first fire was reported at 2:24 pm. There is burnt grass right up to the edge of a PG&E substation on Canada Road.
Firefighters were up against steep canyons, 100 degree weather and grass that Battalion Chief Bob Simmons describes as crispy. He started at the fire on Colton Court.
"I responded to that one first. It was the first one reported, the first one that had people on scene. Once they got they under control I came here and realized this is where I need to be," he said.
The area is heavy not only in oak trees, but poison oak. An early air attack, as evidenced by bright pink retardant on the tree tops, stopped this fire from growing faster, as did prepared homeowners.
"Several of these houses were saved yesterday because they had good fire clearance from the brush," Simmons said.
Two firefighters were injured fighting these fires, but treated and released from Stanford Medical Center.
On Wednesday, grateful neighbors were thanking firefighters. Jeff Moscini, who watched the evacuations go down wanted to deliver pizza to tired crews.
"I wanted to feed these guys for saving our hill over here. Saving Edgewood Park. These guys did a great job in that blazing heat and contained that fire so fast. They should know that," he said.
Firefighters point to a power pole fire as one of the potential causes of the two fires, though the cause of the fire remains under investigation.
Pacific Gas and Electric said restoring power is proving difficult because utility workers still don't have the access they need to make repairs. A PG&E spokesperson directed any questions about the potential cause of the fires to local fire officials.
