Fire in Sunriver
July 22, 2004

Photos and text by Craig Osborn
Click on the images for a larger view.

There was a big fire on the afternoon/evening of July 22in the Parkway behind Sunriver. It threatened about 10-12 Sunriver homes, although the property damage was thankfully very limited. The only damage I saw was the complete loss of maybe 100 feet of fence, plus the shed and a ladder at the "corner house" at the end of Moose River, plus several sections of fence singed by the fire (in adjacent bushes) but not burned down. No houses appeared to have been damaged.

Certainly we can all be glad that the destruction was so limited, and very thankful to Sac Metro Fire which responded quickly and had the fire under control quickly -- on a hot, dry Sacramento summer afternoon. It could have been much worse.

While we're glad for those things, I'd also like to extend our thoughts to the 2 or 3 property owners who sustained damage. We hope that the fire investigators find out quickly what caused it, and that you get your insurance recoveries soon. The SNA is here to help too, if you let us know what we can do.

Here's more general info for anyone who's curious -- The fire spread from west to east, and in a couple of places jumped the firebreak, the bike trail, and the access road. Although Jacques has a lot of the facts right, no one should be drawing conclusions this fast, only 24 hours after the fire happened, and without any expertise. The professional fire investigators are on the job. One witness apparently saw three teenagers hanging around and then fleeing when the fire started, which of course suggests possible arson, but we don't know any of that yet. There is a small patch of burned area that's not adjacent to the rest, so this was likely a 2nd, smaller fire. Might have been started by falling embers from the smoke of the main fire, or could have been an arson itself.

The Sac Metro Fire helicopter made at least two visits over about an hour or two, and made at least 8-10 drops of water right from the river. Way to go, American River!

There appeared to be at least 10 fire dept vehicles responding, possibly quite a few more.

The fire came up to about 20 feet of my back fence, and about the same distance or even less for most neighbors along the front. Where it jumped the firebreak, it seems to have spread thru the tree foliage. I've heard that called "crowning." One exception was where it jumped the firebreak where there are no trees. I call that "scary."

The firefighters used a hydrant at the corner of Klamath and Noatak. They ran the hose from there all the way down Noatak and through a neighbor's back fence. A few fence boards were pulled out to let the hose through.

Anyway, THANK YOU again to Sac Metro Fire for the quick response and effective work. We'll be eagerly awaiting the investigation results.

Craig Osborn
Neighborhood Enhancement Director
Sunriver Neighborhood Association