Firefighters are investigating the source of a blaze in a remote section of Huddart Park in Woodside. The two-acre wildfire was contained just before 11 a.m. on Sept. 25, about eight hours after it was first reported, said Chief Armando Muela of the Woodside Fire Protection District.
It took fire crews more than four hours to locate the fire and then, using a bulldozer and hand crews, to clear a path to reach it.
The fire appears to have originated alongside the popular Crystal Springs trail, near its junction with the Dean trail, said Woodside Fire Marshal Denise Enea. As of Monday afternoon, investigators saw no sign of arson, although it’s likely that some kind of human intervention caused it, she said.
“I don’t think we’ll ever know what started it,” Ms. Enea said. “I’d like to believe it was just carelessness.”
Seventy-one firefighters, six fire engines, two water tenders and two inmate hand crews fought the fire, jointly commanded by the California Department of Forestry and Woodside fire, said Scott Jalbert, a CDF battalion chief. Crews had a tough time getting water to the fire, because the trail was too steep and narrow for the large water tenders, said Tena Anderson, a CDF battalion chief.
A helicopter was called in to drop water on the blaze for about an hour in the morning, said Chief Muela.
There were no injuries, evacuations or structures threatened by the fire.
Huddart Park was closed all morning and CDF crews were set to spend the night making sure the fire was out. The fire was largely restricted to underbrush and leaf debris in a heavily wooded area, a mixed canopy of oak and madrone trees.
The aftermath of the fire resembled a controlled burn, with trees intact but much of the dry brush cleared out, Ms. Anderson said.
